Ain't Never Had A Friend Like Me
by Akari-Chaan
Summary: Willow Potter was starting to realise that she had a talent for tripping into the most absurd situations. After all, what wasn't insane about Death popping up every few minutes, muttering nonsense about "his master," or getting sucked into a lamp, and bound to a 12-year-old Ninja Wannabe who thought she was a magical Genie? Prompt By: Tsume Yuki. FEM!Harry
1. Chapter 1

**Ain't Never Had A Friend Like Me**

**NarutoXHarry Potter Crossover**

* * *

Prologue.

* * *

"So, so you're like a Genie?!" Staring back at the figure before him, Naruto Uzumaki took a moment to look back on the last ten minutes.

He'd been in the streets of Konoha, not the main street because that's where all the glares came from. Well, not all of them, just most. And then, and then someone had thrown a lamp at him! An old, scratched up tin thing that Naruto honestly hadn't thought existed outside of the story books.

He'd scampered home, not really logging the fact he was clutching at the tin decoration until he was sat up to his kitchen table and staring at the dirty surface. The idea had teased at him, half remembered from a story long ago, but the more he stared at his newest, useless item, the more the thought had refused to leave.

While the vast majority of his mind had insisted that this was a stupid thing to do, a small, hesitantly hopeful, part sent his heart throbbing for reasons unknown.

So it was a great surprise when a form of mystic smoke began to gather from the tip of the lamp when he'd actually given it a little rub. Staring up at the figure with all of the wonderment a twelve year old orphan could possibly possess, Naruto didn't even bother to fight the grin that split across his lips. A young woman stared back at him, a bemused little smile upon her face.

* * *

**Okay, so let's get the ball rolling here. Right there, above ^^, that thing, is the prompt I'm writing based off. Written by the talented, Tsume Yuki. We have a few other fics that are taking up this prompt, I'll leave a little list below, but please, don't go comparing all of us. It' pretty annoying when all of the responses to these prompts are so different. **

**What we need to know before we start? This is a FEM!Harry fic, her name is Willow Faye Potter. Why? I like it. She's MoD, and about 21 years old (four years post the final battle). Naruto, is 12, and this starts right before he graduates. Like a day before. Oh yes, MoD, isn't normal, I've got a unique spin to add to that. **

**THIS IS A BUTTERFLY AFFECT AU AND STARTS VERY SLOWLY. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.**

**LET'S TALK PARINGS! Cause let's be honest, it's what we're all here for, right? I'm thinking for Willow it'll be either, Kakashi, Iruka or maybe Yamato. At the moment, I'm leaning for a Kakashi, but either way, they will be good friends! He's gonna be a secondary Character, just not call enough to be in the description box of characters. **

**Naruto? I'm not sure. But's it's not going to be Hinata. Sorry, not sorry. If there's any other major focus character's that you're curious about, message me, I'll be happy to fill in the blanks. ONWARD WITH THE STORY TELLING MY FRIENDS!**

**P.S, please review, it makes me happy.**

**P.P.S, at the end of the chapter I've included all the other authors taking this prompt up, honestly, go chuck them a read. You won't be disappointed.**

* * *

**XoX**

* * *

**The Creature Wars.**

**Three Years Post-Final Battle**

**Willow POV**

* * *

There were spells flying in every direction, bright colours clashing with ill-suited people, who in turned tumbled to the ground and struggled to regain their breath. It was a battle that none had before seen. It was the uprising of those who had been belittled against their aggressors.

It was the time that the Hags, Vampires and all other magical creatures started to revolt against the Government. The Ministry of Magic. After the last Dark War, it _had _looked like things were getting better for them. Finally they'd acquired some form of rights, a pair of young girls took the Ministry by storm – rewriting everything in their way. They were new, bright and innovative young girls, who had dreams as bright as the sun on a hot day. They wanted to right previous wrongs, change stigma, alter the future in new ways, never before considered.

There was a fault in these young girls' plans though. As much as they improved the law based around creatures, there were still bias among the people. They were still discriminated against – they were hated, looked over, ignored. It was things that took away their most basic rights, things that these Wizards wouldn't ever dare to dream about living without. But, that's what it was like when you lived in a society where everything was run by how clean, or pure, your blood was.

Today was the day that everything was going to change for better or worse. Vampires were running in the streets, draining young witches and wizards of their energy source. Hags were screaming at terrified mothers – and the rest were fighting against the Wizarding elite. It was something filled with chaos, there were children screaming, mother's crying, and young people swearing on the tops of their lungs. This, she mused, was something that could have easily been avoided.

Willow Faye Potter wasn't exactly sure _how_ to naturalize the threat of everyone trying to kill each other. After all, this was her fault to begin with. If she hadn't rallied all the creatures together and pushing them to fight for better rights, none of this would have happened. No, it wasn't that. They deserved better, it was the Ministry's fault for refusing to help rewrite past bias. She'd already managed to get the Aurors that she had under her power to disengage the fighters without injuring them – even if it went against the direct orders of the Minister of Magic. It was becoming readily apparent though, that this might not actually be possible. They were willing to fight to the death, and Willow wasn't willing to let anyone try to disarm, when they might still be in risk.

She couldn't ask for that sort of loyalty.

Willow got in the middle of the fighting instead. She stunned as many of the magical creatures as she could. Hopefully, they'd be put in a cell overnight and they could all reach an agreement for their release. She'd never wanted anyone to get hurt. Willow dancing around the body of a falling Hag, a frown marring her features when she realized that she wasn't breathing. It was such a waste of life.

She needed to stop this. Hermione had said that this was going to happen. There really wasn't anything else they could have done, that's what she'd been told at least. Willow didn't fully believe that though, instead of changing government policies, they should have been trying to change public perception of them!

Willow had been so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice the vampire creeping up behind her, and he was so fast that all she felt was a sharp stab in her neck and she was falling. Falling down to the ground, everything moved in slow motion. Her green eyes widened slowly, and she twisted her body as much as she could against the arms that held her to see the losing fight.

After everything? Was this the end? Destroyed by those she was trying to protect? Even after it all, she still didn't blame them a single bit. Her mind repeated the same few words; she would've done the same thing. "Willow!" she swore she heard Hermione scream moments before her eyes slid closed.

Only to have her eyes flutter open again, for a moment she thought that somehow the vampire hadn't managed to completely drain her. A brief moment of panic induced the idea that she was now a vampire but common sense smacked her in the face and told her that this wasn't possible.

What did surprise the young witch though, was looking up to see Hermione's face frozen in a look of horror, her mouth open like she was indeed yelling towards her. The problem was that she wasn't actually moving. Quickly Willow stood up, almost bumping into the vampire that had just tried to kill her. She noticed the red blood – her blood dripping from his mouth, but he too wasn't moving. The blood itself was frozen mid-drip.

The young girl looked around frantically, why had time seemed to stop? Was this what happened when someone died?! Willow realized that she needed to move, maybe this way she could find out what was happening. Maybe movement from her is what was needed to break this trance? It didn't help.

Willow stumbled forward, only stopping to hastily pull someone out of the line of danger. That was when she saw him. Or should she say '_it_?' Because she couldn't be certain what she actually saw was a 'him.'

It was clothed in an over large black robe that trailed behind him slightly. The edges looked warn, like it'd been dragged through hell and back and still survived. Willow couldn't see a face, they had a hood covering they're head, spraying a dark chill over they're face.

They had no hands. If anything, it just looked like a cloak that had somehow been animated. She knew someone was in there though, because the second she noticed its presence, it started walking towards her, showing off they're shiny black shoes that did not go with the rest of their ensemble.

Willow stumbled back, falling into and pushing numerous people to avoid the thing. What even was it? The aura that blanketed the area, like a fog, wasn't something she was very interested in befriending. When the girl finally turned around so she could just run and not hit anything, it appeared right in front of her. The twenty one year old jumped back with a start – and she still couldn't see their face! It was just a dark shadow, almost like there wasn't anything hidden beneath the black cape.

"Who are you?!" she demanded even though her voice was trembling, her hands were steady, and her expression was hard. She didn't look afraid, she wasn't afraid. She couldn't be. She wasn't allowed to be.

It didn't move, and she kept that stance, and she decided not to move as well. Not a single twitch, or flick. The being, because she wasn't even sure if this thing was a person at all, didn't move, didn't speak. Heck, it didn't even have a speck of dirt n his perfectly shiny leather shoes.

"You are my Master,"a voice called, the words drawn out to sound loud a rasping. With a voice like that, she couldn't help but shiver. The voice whist being high-pitched, was steady, course, and ill-used.

A huff of air escaped the girl-who-lived, a title which seemed more befitting now than ever, her eyes narrowed at the being. They weren't making very much sense, is she were being very honest with herself. "Who are you?"

"Death," the voice rasped with no emotion, and no hesitation. Willow looked around towards the countless bodies around her. Could this actually be death? Like the one in the tales of the three brothers? The very being that every one passed though, the one she had escaped past so many times, however she tried to avoid? Was she dying. This though, wasn't how it went last time she died. Maybe it'd actually stick this time.

Willow nodded, not bothering to ask why he'd be here – she felt the answer would be quite obvious. She pondered for a moment what to say, what did you say to someone that could be considered the most powerful force on the earth? "What's happening?"

"You died," the voice answered, his honesty with his words causing Willow to flinch backwards. "As my Master it's impossible for you to die from anything that isn't a natural death. I always come met my Masters just after they've died."

Willow's eyes widened, a frown working it's way onto her face. This thing wasn't saying what she thought it was, was it? "I…can't die?" she asked, quite horrified about the idea that she may never die.

"I just said you could," the voice replied, emotions non withstanding. Willow's eye twitched. No, he most certainly did not just say that.

"Why isn't anyone moving…?"

"I froze time,"they replied, still with zero emotions, but by this time, Willow was starting to grow tired with Death's riddles.

"Why?"

"To ensure you realized your new role," he replied slower, almost like he wasn't used to having to explain anything in too great detail.

"My new role?" she raised an eyebrow, trying to disengage from the chaos around her t focus on the being in front of her. She was just going to say, she really found that task rather difficult.

"As my Master," he responded, turning his hooded face to look at something to their left. Willow didn't bother looking, getting quite frustrated with his answers.

"What is my role as your Master, Death?"

"I have to go, enjoy your fight," Death said as people started to move again. And before she realized what was happening, Death had disappeared and people everywhere had resume the fight like nothing had happened.

Except Willow hadn't been where she had been, and she wasn't dying anymore. She was healthy. She hoped no one would notice. Then again, she mused, glancing over at Hermione's confused face, she just hoped no one would question it. With her luck though, this was going to escalate things quickly.

* * *

**XoX**

* * *

**The Next Day.**

**Minister's Office.**

**Ministry of Magic**

**Willow POV**

* * *

"I'm glad you managed to make this rather short noticed appointment, Miss Potter."

Willow nodded her head polity at the new Minister. The man was very war-minded but seemed to be able to care for Wizarding Britain well. He knew what to do, and what needed to change. Willow had no problem with this Minister like she'd had for all the other ones. "It's no problem. Is this about the revolt yesterday?"

He tilted his head, letting his salt and pepper hair fall into his face. "Kind of, Miss Potter. Will you take a seat?" he gestured to the seat at the opposite of his desk. Willow happily took the seat even if she was slightly worried about what the talk was going to entitle.

She hoped all that she and Hermione fought for with the rights of non-Human beings wasn't about to be ruined. She'd argue it, for sure. "Now Miss Potter, yesterday you were attacked by a Vampire, yes?"

Willow nodded her head slowly. "Would you like some tea?" He asked, changing his tune completely, and began poring her a cup and placed it in front of her. He smiled at her, showing all his signs that he was getting older.

The Minister took a sip of his own tea, and Willow followed suit to remain polite. It tasted slightly odd, but she just figured that he hadn't added any sugar to it.

"There are several eye-witnesses that say they swore you were critically injured. Then the next second you were on the other side of the battlefield fighting, completely unharmed," he told her, and Willow wasn't sure she liked the way the conversation was going. The Minister wanted answers to things she couldn't answer.

It wasn't like she could tell the Minister that the day before that Death appeared to her and told her that she wasn't dying from anything but old age. "They must have been mistaken," Willow lied smoothly. "You can obviously see that I haven't been injured."

She figured to attack him with the most logical thing she could. It wasn't like he would argue with what he could see. He just watched her, not saying anything in return. Willow opened her mouth to add something else to her last statement only to find out that she could talk. The words came out as a strange gurgling.

Willow tried to stand up but her body wasn't responding to her commands. Her eyes widened, and she struggled to move, speak… What was going on?!

"Don't struggle Miss Potter. You'll only make it worse," The Minister said calmly. He was poisoning her! Why?! "I've been shown memories from more than one source. Britain can't withstand another Dark Lord or Lady taking over. I'm sorry Miss Potter, my hands are tied."

His mouth seemed to slow down until it stuttered to a halt and everything in the room seemed to freeze. Was this…!? "You seem to die frequently."

"Hello Death," Willow said realising that the poison seemed to completely fade. Well, she guessed that she was dead at this point wasn't she? Willow looked at the frozen Minister and wondered how he managed to poison her. She watched him pour the tea, he didn't slip anything into it, and he even drank some!

With a jolt she realised that he'd already had a cup. An un-poisoned cup. She sighed at her stupidity – she should have known. "What are you doing here Death?" Willow asked.

"You died," the being responded.

"I thought I wasn't able to die?" she retorted, voice sarcastic, before sighing. She couldn't believe that she'd died twice... in two days! Damn, that must be some form of record.

"It's my duty to ensure you know all your responsibilities as the Master of Death, so I come when you die, to give you another insight," Death responded, his voice as dead and lifeless as his namesake.

"What's my insight before I go back this time?" Willow asked curiously, feeling faintly offended that Death expected her to die... numerous times!

"You have the power to call upon me whenever you wish," he responded. "And I am here to do as you wish of me."

"How do I call you?" Willow asked, raising an eyebrow.

Death turned to look at the clock situated behind him. "I have to go."

"Wait-!" Willow protested, standing up from her seat in an attempt to bodily restrain him, only to find out he'd left and time had once again resumed.

"Wha-! Miss Potter! Someone subdue her!" Before Willow could understand what exactly was going on she had two burly Aurors holding each of her arms, in case she went for her wand.

"How did you do it?" The Minister demanded slamming his fist into his desk. "You by all accounts died a few seconds ago. How are you standing and in good health!?"

She didn't really know how to respond to that. What could she say that didn't sound like she was crazy? "Good immune system?" Willow tried, trying to rip herself from the grip of her captors to no avail.

The Minister sighed reaching down to open one of his draws, pulling out an old dirty object. It sort of looked like a lamp. He placed the old golden thing on his desk facing her. Watching his face, he looked somewhat remorseful. "I'm sorry Miss Potter, but, the public want answers – and I'm sure they'll conclude the same thing as I have. You've taken to Dark Magic…"

"What are you going to do with me then? Lock me away?" Willow raised an eyebrow. Even if they locked her away, she gave Hermione and Ron a few weeks before they got her out again. She could last a week with the Dementors.

The Minister slowly shook his head. "No, no. Someone with your skills Miss Potter, would be able to get out of Azkaban with ease. We're going to banish you."

Willow was actually surprised. "How do you propose that you do that?"

Thee Minister walked around his desk so he could lean on it comfortably, whilst doing this he picked up the old lamp. "We're going to seal you into this lamp, and throw you away."

This was the last thing Willow remembered hearing, because the next second she heard the soft spoken words of a spell, by all three Wizards in the room. It was almost like she'd blinked and one moment she was in the office and the next she was sitting in a lamp.

No, she was actually sitting inside a lamp. And it was small. As uncomfortable as it was, she was staring to realize something was dawning horror. She was stuck inside a small, cramped place with nothing but her mind for company…. She couldn't move. It was too small.

So small.

She couldn't move.

Couldn't itch her head. Her head was itchy.

She was trapped. It was so cramped. She needed out.

Out.

Out!

Why was it so small?

There wasn't even enough room for her to breathe properly.

She needed to get out.

Not enough room…

…out…

…so…small…

She couldn't feel, she couldn't see. She was being, but what was being without space? What was anything? What was light? Dark? Colour?

* * *

XoX

* * *

**One Year Later**

**Minister's Office**

**Minister's POV**

* * *

The Minister was getting older by the day. He had to fight to keep the British in check. They fought, rioted and were generally displeased with something new every day. The one thing that never changed, and he was questioned on daily was the location of Willow Faye Potter.

The Light (turned dark, not that the public knew that) Witch had been said to be on a rumored vacation to America. Although she'd never returned. He was planning on revealing that she'd somehow gotten involved over a turf fight between a bunch of Wolves and Vampires in a little rainy town. It seemed like something the girl would've done.

He was certain that everyone would believe him too. Well, that was everyone except… His musings was distracted by a sudden knocking on his oak wielded doors. The Minister sighed before he bid the person to come in. Only one person at the Ministry always visited without much warning…

"Hello Minister," the curly haired brunette greeted as she walked into the room. "I was just following up on Willow. You said she'd be back yesterday?"

"Miss Granger, sit down," the Minister said, trying to smooth over his eye twitch and sound comforting at the same time. He was pretty sure that he failed on both accounts.

The girl seated herself with a kind smile, and not for the first time he thought that she should have never gone into politics. "Miss Potter was reported KIA trying to settle a dispute between Werewolves and Vampire's in the North of America."

The girls widened drastically, a look of horror making its way onto her face. "I thought you said she was in the South though. Why would she move to the North?" Granger protected, her eyebrows knitting together like she was trying to figure it out.

His eyes drew to the now shiny lamp he held on his table to keep his papers down. The younger woman's eyes followed his gaze. "I don't know what to tell you Miss Granger. She didn't inform the Ministry of her plans."

"I should form a team to go smooth things over with the American Ministry then?" She asked, her eyes narrowed, losing all pervious sorrow that she could have felt. "They don't like it when outsiders mess with their politics."

"No," he said a little too quickly. "They don't mind in this case."

"Right, I have to go. Thank you for talking to me Minister."

The activist left. The Minister started to feel paranoid. He needed to get rid of the lamp he decided. That girl wouldn't leave anything until she found something. He needed to get rid of all evidence. The two wizards that help him destroy her needed to get some... new missions. It was a pity that he couldn't keep them around.

What to actually do with Potter? He grabbed the lamp as a thought occurred to him. He'd just throw it into the Veil Of Death!

* * *

**XoX**

* * *

**Three Hours Later**

**Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

"So you're like a Genie!?" A young boy crowed to her. A small smile of amusement worked its way onto her face. She was released from that… hell-hole by a boy that looked to be around ten years old? She looked around slowly, looking at all the dirty surfaces and the heap of clothes lobbed into the corner of the room.

The boy lived in a rundown hole in the wall. Where was she? Added to the fact that the boy had an odd accent, almost like he was speaking another language that she just recently learned. What language though? "Ah," she agreed momentarily confused. She didn't want to destroy the young boy's dreams. Plus, it would look bad telling an obvious Muggle about her magic.

The boy jumped for joy, letting Willow to see that his blindingly bright orange jacket had a giant hole running completely down the side. She frowned slightly, noticing for the first time, plates piled in the sink, attracting the flies. She could see that his hair and face contained quite a bit of dirt.

"So, so, do I get three wishes!?" he asked eagerly, shaking the lamp she'd previously been trapped in. Willow winced wishing he wouldn't. Hell, she wanted to blow that stupid thing up. She was never going back into that thing. What did she know about Genies? Three wishes….

"Yes. I cannot grant eternal life, or riches. I also can't produce food or alter your body in any way," Willow finally decided giving him some basic rules about what magic can do.

The boy looked stumped for a few moments, he starting rubbing his chin in thought. Willow thought that he was nearing one of the cutest things she'd seen. She might have just been a little over emotional because the boy released her from imprisonment.

"You can't make me a Ninja can you?" The little boy asked, looking up at her with round blue eyes, which sparkled with an untold innocence. "I wanna pass my exam and become the Hokage! Believe it!"

What the hell was a Hokage? The boy wanted to be a ninja… How the hell would she manage that? "I said I can't alter your body in any way...-"

"No!" The boy shouted, crossing his arms across his body like he was trying to push back the thought. Then he started to chuckle nervously, running a hand through his thick yellow hair. "I'm not good at written tests, so if you could make me pass. Then I'd be a ninja!"

Willow shrugged her shoulders, she could sympathise. She too, pretty much sucked at written tests. It would be easy to put a self-answering spell on the test. It wasn't like back at Hogwarts where they had things in place to stop the students from doing that on their exams. "When is your test?"

"Tomorrow!" He replied with a sunny grin. Willow felt her heart warm with the kid's warmth.

"It shall be done," she replied. All she needed to do was follow him to school and cast the spell on the paper, when she was under a camouflage charm. Simple. "What else would you like?" She asked.

"Eh!?" The boy said in his surprise. "I… I dunno."

"Take your time," Willow gently told the boy, putting him on the shoulder. She was surprised when he flinched from her slightly. "I'll just stay here till you decide."

The boy's confused face transformed into a huge grin. "With me? Here! Of course Genie-Nee-Chan!" He proclaimed, buzzing from the idea. Willow smiled in amusement again, the boy seemed to have an endless supply of energy.

"What's your name then?" Willow bent down so she was face-to-face with the young kid.

"Uzumaki Naruto! And I'll make the greatest Ninja, believe it!" Willow refrained from chuckling form the boy's enthusiasm. Where the hell had she ended up?

Willow moved to sit down by the boy's Japanese styled table. She dusted the pillow before she sat down, not really liking how dirty the place was, but really – she'd seen worse.

"So, Naruto, tell about being a ninja?" Willow asked, wanting to know a little bit more about what actually being a ninja entitled."Like, what is it that ninja actually do?"

"Well," the boy bounced in his spot, almost like he was unsure what he was meant to do next. Willow gestured to the seat opposite her and the boy rewarded her with the largest smile she'd ever seen as he practically jumped into his new seat. "I've been training to be one since I was eight! They do missions and save people and protect Princesses!"

That…actually sounded like he was actually going to be a ninja? Was it wise for her to help someone fake their test results and send them in a field like the one she knew a ninja to be like? Willow really couldn't judge much but… Would the boy be in danger? She had promised but… she did never go back on a promise. "You want to protect Princesses then?"

Naruto puffed his cheat out proudly, and levelled her with an expression that she could deem semi-serious. "I want to protect everyone! And earn everyone's respect! Believe it!"

Willow gave the younger boy a soft look. "I'm sure you will."

"Y-you do?"

Willow chuckled lightly. "If you work for it, anything can become reality."

* * *

XoX

* * *

The Graduation Test

0800 Hours

* * *

Willow stood silently behind Naruto, without the kid even realising that she was standing behind him. He had an easy, happy-go-lucky air about him, almost like he needn't worry about his exam he was about to undertake. And she guessed, the kid really didn't have to.

The happiness that he excluded made everyone around the boy angry though. Willow did notice the glares parents sent him – one's of absolute loathing. She noticed the looks the other kids sent him, like he was an absolute nonsense. Whilst she kind of figured the kid was a little bit of a handful, but really.

She followed him through his daily routine. He glared at a black-haired kid for a few moments before moving on to greet another kid with a dog, with minute enthusiasm. Just has he sat down at the front of the classroom, with Willow lurking behind him – a pink-haired girl that sort of reminded her of Tonks burst into the room and Naruto jumped out of his seat, a wide grin etched onto his whiskered cheeks.

"Hello Sakura-chan!" He chirped as she walked back, obviously eager to get to her friends, she assumed.

"Shut up Naruto!" She shook her fist, and narrowed her green eyes at the boy before continuing in her journey down the isle of tables. Willow winced, that must have stung a little… the boy's crush obviously didn't like him very much. But the look of determination on the kids face was absolutely adorable.

"Quiet down, quiet down everyone," an older man, and by older she meant around late twenties said walking into the room. He was obviously their teacher. He had brown hair laced atop his head, but his most defining feature was the scar running down his face. Willow felt slightly uncomfortable looking at it, to be honest.

The man went to his desk and grabbed out a stack of papers that had to be the exam they were about to take. He started to walk down the first isle of table's placing the papers face down so none of the kids could read the questions. "This is your graduation exam. Remember you need at least an eighty to pass. After you're done. We will call you one by one into the adjoining room. Bring your paper with you and you'll be tested on your Jutsu knowledge."

Willow listened with rapt attention, almost wanting to knock Naruto upside the head for not bothering to pay attention. She could have sworn when the teacher passed her, he knew she was there somehow though. After he placed the test down in front of Naruto, he walked back to the front of the room and proclaimed; "Begin!"

The other kids all flipped their test over and begun scribbling furiously. Naruto on the other hand just languidly turned the paper over and placed his pencil in the blank spot under the question. Willow rolled her eyes, he was a cheeky little brat, wasn't he? Quietly as possible she muttered the light spell.

The pencil righted itself, and Naruto struggled to get a proper grip on the pen that did whatever it pleased. Willow leaned over his shoulder to see the pen writing the answers out in a dreadful handwriting. She looked at the kid and shook her head. He really needed to get handwriting lessons.

Willow wasn't ashamed to admit after reading a few questions and not really knowing any context, seriously what was a Hokage!? That she zoned out completely. Waiting for the test to finish was boring and she wished she could've just left but, as things were, she knew that she had to wait till he passed the test until she could leave.

Why was she helping a 12 year old cheat on his test to become a trained ninja, again? It didn't seem very wise of her. She figured those in charge wouldn't let him go on a dangerous mission without him being trained properly.

She resolved herself. Plus, wasn't half being a Ninja being able to cheat properly. Right. She just needed to get the kid to pass, and figure out where in Merlin's name she was. Seriously, she didn't recognise that massive village that she strolled through to get here. They were also selling odd things in the market-place.

Things that didn't belong in a Westernized dish. Where the heck had the Minister exiled her too!? "Pens down!" The man, teacher, called out to all of the kids. They were all so young too. Surely Naruto was going slightly over the top with what it meant to be a Ninja? Everyone here just seemed so… young. Like, they looked how she did at her first year of Hogwarts.

And they were all graduating, when she was just starting her education at their age. Willow watched as Naruto, placed the enchanted pen down with a wide grin. Willow rolled her eyes, knowing the second that Naruto let go the pen, the spell wore off.

The kid was… an odd kid. He was bright, energetic and outgoing, but he flinched from her touch. Almost like she had when Hermione started to hug her in greeting after Second Year. Willow would've suspected his parents but from the looks of it the kid didn't have any. He was just staying by himself, not bothering with the necessities that most adults deemed necessary, like cleaning and cooking decent meals.

She honestly felt some sort of kinship with the kid. He was all alone, like she'd been. Well, she had the Dursely's but they honestly did more harm to her than they did her any good. "Uzumaki Naruto!" The previous student, a blonde haired girl, said as she walked back through the door holding a little headband with the symbol of a leaf on it, proudly.

Naruto got up from his seat, throwing the blonde girl a thumbs up. The blonde smiled back at him, obviously extremely happy with the fact that she'd passed… and gotten a headband? What kind of place was this!? She bit back a sigh, she didn't want to be caught and followed the blonde boy into the room.

It was a small room, and there was a desk filled with those headbands that the blonde girl had been wearing. Behind the desk was the scar-faced teacher, and another teacher (she assumed) with silvery-white hair, and a look of distain badly hidden on his features. Willow's eyes narrowed at the man, she didn't think he should be trusted honestly, because the look he was giving Naruto…

"Alright, pass us your exam Naruto," Scar-face asked the little blonde boy. Nervously, the boy shuffled his feet over to the table, and with a trembling hand, he passed it over to his teacher, before shuffling back a few steps. Scar-Face picked up his red marker, and started going down the piece of paper.

His disbelief was evident was he read down the page. For a moment, he looked up at the nervous blonde, and stared at him a few moments, like he was considering something he never had before. Scar-Face nodded his head and placed down his marker. "A perfect score. Now Naruto, if you can make a perfect clone, at least one, you pass."

The boy's face went from a look of complete triumph to one of horror. Couldn't he do a clone? Naruto moved his hands into an odd shape, and said some odd words, allowing a puff of smoke to appear to the side of him, to reveal a distorted copy of himself. Scar-Face's expression morphed into one that was a bit disappointed.

Willow had to think fast, she bit her lip. She said she was going to get the boy to pass his exam… Willow sighed, she really didn't have much of a choice did she? "Confundous," she whispered so lightly, that she could barely hear herself. Both Teacher's eyes unfocused. Willowed moved over to stand between them. She bent down and started to whisper in Scar-Faces ear.

"Naruto just made the best clone you've ever seen," she muttered, and he nodded his head in agreement.

"That's the best clone I've ever seen," Scar-Face repeated to Naruto. The boy's face morphed from disappointed to absolutely shock.

Willow then turned to the other teacher, which she just dubbed 'gramps.' "You agree."

"I agree," Grams intoned, his eyes unfocused.

"You're going to give him the best score you can," Willow mumbled into Scar-Faces ear. He nodded again.

"I'm giving you the best score I can," Scar-Face said to a dazed Naruto. He ticked a few boxes on the paper after him. Naruto let go of the sad excuse of a clone. "You pass," he mumbled passing him a headband.

"Yes! One step closer to Hokage!" Naruto proclaimed running from the room. Willow hastily removed the spell from the two teachers. Scar-Face blinked.

"Where did Naruto go?"

"Hm? Looks like we passed him," Gramps added dryly gesturing to the paper.

"Huh, most of zoned out for a moment, I guess," Scar-Face shrugged. "I'll go get Sakura."

Willow smiled, she gotten the kid to pass his stupid exam. Willow Faye Potter didn't realise that at the moment, the axis that the world had been spinning on completely halted. She had just irreversibly changed the future of this universe – and she had no idea.

* * *

**EXTRA – HOKAGE'S OFFICE**

* * *

"Are you telling me that Naruto, despite failing every class managed to score perfectly on the written exam, and use a Jutsu that he couldn't and produce, what was it?" The Hokage asked, not sure if he believed the Chunnin Instructor in front of him.

"The best clone that I've ever seen," Iruka answered instantly. He wasn't exactly sure if he remembered Naruto's exam at all really, he thought he must've dazed off there somewhere, but he distinctively remember thinking that.

"Because of that, his scores have catapulted him into scoring the second highest score of the year?"

"He would've gotten first if it wasn't for the fact that Sasuke has gotten nothing but perfect scores all year," Irkua said sheepishly, running the back of his neck. He did feel a bit confused, but the exam counted for over half of graduation criteria. He honestly felt bad for Sakura, she'd worked so hard to get the second spot on the ladder, and she just got shoved down to third.

The Hokage nodded his head, slowly. "This changes the projected teams around a bit. We can't have the three highest scoring kids in the same team."

Iruka nodded his head understandingly. The Hokage continued before Iruka could comment though. "Sasuke and Naruto have to be on the same team, their Jonin Sensei has been assigned to them… for various reasons. We need to add a girl with lower marks than your Kounchi of the year."

"It's unconventional but, Sir, I suggest Yamanika Ino. I know she's going to be a part of the classic trio, but Sir, I believe both girls would benefit on either team."

"Explain?" The Hokage demanded, not appearing to want to bend and switch those two girls.

"They're very close in marks, but I believe that Sakura would benefit by being in a team with someone as smart as she is. The Nara would give her that boost despite how lazy he is. Where Ino has low enough marks to even out the grading. I think it wold do her well to be put in a team where her teammates aren't doing everything she says because they're afraid of her," Iruka explained.

The Hokage massaged his temple. "Blame that boy to mess up my best laid plans," he grumbled, his eyebrow twitching at the thought of the Uzumaki. "That Team has been in the works for the last four years."

"I understand, Hokage-sama. There is also Hyuga Hinata or Abe Akemi. Hyuga-chan is quiet a shy young girl, but I can see the potential to grow with such strong personalities or…"

"Break, leaving me to deal with Hisashi. What about Abe Akemi?" The Hokage asked, wondering where Naruto's newfound overzealous nature in studying appeared from and started to wonder if it wasn't too much to just change Naruto's results a bit… No, he wouldn't take that away from the boy.

No matter how much he wanted to at the moment. Damn Kakashi's need to have those two students!

Iruka hesitated slightly. "We might not have an Uchiha heir if that happened."

"Why?"

"She'd probably kill him."

The Hokage groaned again. Damn Naruto! Damn Kakashi! Damn whatever reason caused him to score so astronomically high! No one had managed such a perfect score in…well… forever!


	2. Chapter 2

**Ain't Never Had A Friend Like Me**

**Chapter Two**

* * *

**Thank you for all the reviews, favs and follows! I'll do my best to get back to everyone who leaves a review!**

**I may have forgotten that list at the end of last chapter, here it is: Genies and Genin by CuteKitty264. Can Your Friends Do This? by Watermelonsmellinfellon. As You Command by Oh My Cabbage. All worth the read, honestly.**

* * *

**Hermione's Apartment**

**A week Post-Willow**

* * *

"Hermione, come on… It's not going to work," a red-haired man spoke softly to the brunette witch hunched over a desk with book sprawled ruggedly around her person. It wasn't only that that had the young man worried, it was the fact that the normally impeccable apartment was covered from head to toe in books.

Hermione had always been known for overzealous studies, but this was something else. "No," the young witch replied stubbornly, looking up to glare at the red-head. "Willow's alive. I know she is! I'm not stopping till I find her!"

"Hermione," Ronald Weasley said as gently as he could, trying to hide his pain at having to utter his next words. "The Minister said that Will was dead. She died doing what she always does – trying to help people. She died a hero."

"No," Hermione snapped again, ignoring his speech, flicking open the book hidden underneath a stack of other, already read books. "She alive. I just know she is! I need to find something that can help me track her down!"

"Why are you so sure?" Ron asked finally.

Hermione looked up from the book firmly placed in front of her – her red-rimmed eyes staring deep into the young adults very soul. "She wouldn't give up if it was one of us – and she never said goodbye. Willow _always_ says goodbye."

Ron sighed. The brunette was right. Willow wouldn't have given up even if something as silly as logic was getting in their way. "Well, you're not getting anywhere with all these books," he said bluntly, ignoring her sharp glare. "If something fishy did happen, then the Minister's covering it up."

Hermione scrunched her eyebrows together. "What do you mean Ronald?"

Ron grinned. "We need someone who is on the inside with the Ministry and can dig up anything. Someone who owes Will a favour."

Hermione's eyes widened drastically. "You can't mean-!"

"Yes, come on! He can get into the Ministry faster than any of us could, it's in the weasel's blood!"

"I wish you wouldn't call him that," Hermione shook her head, momentarily allowing herself to close her eyes. Gods was she tired. "I like weasels."

Ron laughed lightly. "Let's see if we call find ourselves a Willow Faye Potter!"

* * *

**Naruto's Apartment**

**Day Of Team Placements**

**Willow POV**

* * *

"Do I have to do this Genie-nee-chan?" Naruto muttered, pouting, turning his massive blue eyes to her direction – pleading with her. Willow had to admit the fact that his lower lip was pouted out added to the overall effect, she still wasn't fazed.

"Yes, I don't know how you managed to live like this," she said slowly, her eyes straying to the… was that moldy cheese underneath his bed?! Willow cringed and silently banished the abdomen of life before she could fully react to it being there.

"It's not that bad, nee-chan," Naruto huffed before going back to scrubbing the wall by his window – that was covered in a substance that Willow still felt was of a questionable nature.

Willow simply raised an eyebrow at the kid, before grabbing what she assumed was a pillow case from his bed. "What colour was this when you first got this?"

Naruto looked at her again, eager to get away from scrubbing his walls clean. "Orange I think. It was a present from the Old Man Hokage!"

Willow nodded her head slowly, making a mental note that he seemed very close with the leader of Konoha – and the ninjas. "It's brown," she said slowly.

Naruto wrinkled his nose. "It's old that's all!" he protested.

"We'll see after it gets washed," Willow hummed, throwing it into the 'desperately needs a wash' pile.

"Bah, nee-chan you're so weird!" Naruto complained, moving back towards cleaning his wall. She could have gotten him to do something else, but it was easier to use her magic to fix things when the boy wasn't looking – and she had to admit. The walls were looking much, much nicer after he cleaned them.

Seriously, who let the boy live like this?!

"You'll thank me one day," Willow muttered under her breath and Naruto didn't appear to have noticed her. "Plus. Mess annoys everyone, remember that! Anyway," she said a little bit louder. "Don't you have team placements in about ten minutes?"

"Whaaaaaaat? Oh no! Why didn't you warn me nee-chan?!" Naruto screamed his voice going dangerously high-pitched. Willow resisted the urge to chuckle.

Naruto quickly dropped his cloth, and raced towards the headband he had resting on his dresser before tying it around his forehead. "Bye nee-chan!" He called only to be stopped by said girl with a quiet, 'wait!'

"Take that," The Potter gestured towards his small (thankfully clean) table where a small box, the resembled a westernized lunchbox sat. "It's a… traditional lunch where I'm from."

"You…."

"Hmm?" Willow peered down at the star stuck boy who was looking at the little box like it was the strangest thing he'd ever seen in all of his years. "I made you lunch. You seemed a bit busy," she added with amusement because she was the one keeping him busy. "I didn't really know what you liked – but it was one of my favorites so… If you don't want it, I could drop by something else later…"

"No!" Naruto said quickly, snatching up the lunchbox like his life depended on it. Willow blinked slowly. "Thank you Genie-chan!" Naruto called, an odd emotion running through his face before he quickly ran from the room.

What an odd reaction to a ham and cheese sandwich. With a shrug, Willow walked towards the fridge and pulled out a carton of milk, and one of Naruto's hastily cleaned glasses. She looked down at the expiry date and smirked lightly remembering the night before when she cast a preserving spell on it.

No need to waste good milk! Without a moments hesitation she placed the milk down on the table, and grabbed her wand out of her sleeve and cast a quick charm to get the rest of the house cleaned up in moments. She wanted to teach the kid responsibility of cleaning the house himself – after she was gone. But that didn't mean that she had to go and clean it all herself as well.

She was preparing Naruto, she'd already been prepared. With a contented yawn she seated herself on the little chair she liked to transfigure into a bed come night time. Willow then finally allowed herself to relax and begin thinking through the situation that she found herself in.

How many years had passed while she was in that lamp? She hardly looked a day older, but Wizards were known to age at half the speed of a normal person. It was the longevity. She still barely looked a day over nineteen, but she'd been twenty-one when she was trapped…

What had happened to England? How had the creature's rights movement held up? How was Hermione? What was Ron doing? Did Andromeda take in Teddy now that his Godmother had disappeared off the face of the earth as well? There was just so much that she needed to know. Would using apparition to get back to England work?

She doubted it would, after all it wasn't meant for inter-state travel. She ruled it down for a last ditch effort approach. If she knew how to create a portkey it would become easier. She didn't have any flu-powder. There also wasn't much of a hint towards a magical community in Konoha. Only unnaturally powered Ninjas. Who could apparently do magical things just by making silly hand signs?

Willow sighed in aggravation, pulling the ends of her short red hair. Why couldn't she think of anything? If she could just get a message to Hermione, then maybe she would have a chance. Of course, she still had to wait for Naruto to use up his wishes.

He was such a sweet heart too. Deep down she knew he deserved anything she could give the little hellion. Willow hadn't noticed the time flickering by until she heard the door of the apartment creek open, and with a start, she heard two deep masculine voice muttering to the other as they opened the door.

Willow had a split second of panic, realising that she'd put her wand down across the room, it had rolled underneath the boys microwave, and someone was entering the apartment of a young boy – who should not be housing a twenty something year old witch. The door being pushed open was happening in such slow motion, almost like her mind at that moment.

What did she do!?

The door creaked open slowly, and Willow made a split second transformation into something she hadn't really fully mastered yet. Her animagus from. Please work! She hoped she'd managed to get the whole form correct. Normally she still had human characteristics. Oh dear Merlin! "Anyway, Kakashi-kun, this is Naruto's apartment."

An old grandfatherly type man entered the room, shortly followed by another man, just as tall – but with spiky silver hair.

"It's cleaner than I'd expect," this Kakashi commented, rubbing a gloved hand on the table that Willow in her transformation sat on. "Oh," he said, his only visible eye focusing on Willow. "Hello Kitty-chan!" His hand reached out and patted the fur on her head softly.

"Naruto got a pet cat?" The Old Man said with amusement. "Last time I saw him he thought that Ramen made a good breakfast."

Kakashi grunted, his second hand coming up to inspect the milk that she'd carelessly left on the table. With nothing else to do, she just hoped they pegged it up to Naruto being a pre-teen accidentally leaving the milk out. "He inherited that trait then, did he?" His hand moved to shake the box, before slowly lifted it up to his nose that was covered in a mask and sniffing the milk.

What an odd person. "He grows into a more unpredictable young man with each day. I did mention his test results being odd…"

"Hokage-sama," Kakashi interpreted, not seeming to be paying much attention to the Old Man's grievances. Willow settled herself on the table, her glowing eyes focused on the milk in Kakashi's hand. "Can you tell me if this milk is expired?"

"What?" The Hokage said. The Potter was just starting to realise who this person in Naruto's apartment was. Why was the leader of the country in Naruto's apartment, and who the hell was this Kakashi?

Why was she letting herself be dragged into Naruto's drama...? "It expired a week ago, but it smells fresher than most milk you buy from the stall."

"I don't think that's a concern, Kakashi-kun," The Hokage rolled his eyes. Willow's heart stopped – he noticed the spell she put on the milk! What would they do to her if they found out!? There was a reason that Muggle's didn't know about them! Distract them!

She started meowing, as violently as she could – she started to paw at the silver-haired man's hand. Digging her claws into his hand. "Ow!" He tried to retract his hand but she took a bite out of his hand.

God, what was she? Some sort of animal? Well… she kind of was, but that's not the point, was it? "Devil Kitty-chan. I think I'll call you Demon-chan now," he told her seriously, almost like he expected her to understand him.

"Kakashi…."

Kakashi straightened up, not moving his hand to go near her again and not placing the milk down. "Sorry Sir. It's a normal apartment, albeit a bit clean for a twelve year old."

The Hokage sighed. "I was hoping to gain some form of insight to Naruto's amazing marks from the graduation exam by inspecting his house."

Kakashi shrugged his shoulders, placing the milk back down in the exact spot he took it from. Not even an inch different. "Maybe he was playing dumb, Hokage-sama."

The Hokage looked at him seriously. "It's your job to figure that part out."

With a jolt Willow realised that for the first time, she'd managed a full transformation!

* * *

**The Academy**

**Team Placements**

**Naruto POV**

* * *

Naruto ran through the doors of the Academy with mere seconds to spare. He was so close to being late for the first day of the rest of his life and it was all because Genie-nee-chan was weird! Naruto wrinkled his nose thinking about all the cleaning, the hours, and hours' worth of cleaning that the woman made him do. Wasn't she his Genie? Didn't that mean she wasn't meant to make him clean!?

With a sigh, Naruto tugged up to the only empty seat next to the odd girl that always stared at him and a blonde girl that he thought tried to kill Sasuke last year. She was the only girl in the class who wasn't in love with Sasuke – and that made her cool. But she was really scary. Her eyes were lined black, and she would just glare at anyone who got too close to her.

Naruto slumped in his chair. How he wished he could've been seated next to Sakura! She was so pretty! And nice… well, sometimes she was nice to him. She was still the cutest girl in the class! With her pretty pink hair and pretty green eyes! Genii-Nee-Chan had green eyes too, Naruto remembered absent-minded, but hers were a much darker, more vivid shade of green.

The Uzumaki wasn't very sure whose eyes were prettier. He wanted to say Sakura because she was just so cool. But, he couldn't say that with 100% honesty. Being too distracted by the thought of Genei-chan's eyes he didn't notice Iruka-sensei being in the room until he started yelling at the class.

Naruto wished he could be that loud. He could do some killer pranks and maybe he'd be able to talk to Genii-nee-chan from the other side of his apartment! Yes! That was it! He'd talk to Iruka-sensei after class!

"You are all now Ninja of the Hidden Leaf. Your about to be placed into three man teams, and placed under a Jonin instructor. You will need to…." Iruka-sensei started to lecture and Naruto sort of dozed off, staring off into thin air. What did Genii-Nee-Chan pack him for lunch!? Naruto hoped it was Ramen, but he didn't think the woman would have done that. Hadn't she said it was from where she was from?

Where was Genie-nee-chan from!? She wasn't from Konoha, was she from a special Genie land, where all the Genie lived? "Team Seven will be, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke and…. Hyūga Hinata, under Hatake Kakashi. Team Eight will be Haruno Sakura, Aburame Shino and…"

No! He wasn't on the same team as Sakura!? He was with the Uchiha!? Why him! What did he do to deserve this! Why! Why! Naruto slammed his head into his desk, ignoring everyone else around him. Who even was Hinata anyway!?

Why? Why? Why!?

"Alright, you have a half an hour lunch break before you need to meet your Sensei's here," Iruka went on to mention, before dismissing them. Naruto watched as kids seemed to pair off into the teams they were going to be in before going off to have lunch together.

Naruto's heart almost jumped. Was he… was he going to have a real friend? Other than Genii-Nee-Chan of course. But Genii-Nee-Chan didn't count. Not really. Naruto looked over at Sasuke who looked like he'd just swallowed a lemon.

Hehehehe, he should make Sasuke eat a lemon! Naruto started to cackle madly in his head. Almost reluctantly, Sasuke started to make his way over to Naruto. Did he have to be Sasuke's friend! Sasuke thought he was so cool, but he really wasn't.

"Hello Sasuke-san," a quiet voice from next to Naruto muttered, and Naruto turned to face her. What was her name again? Her cheeks tinted pink at the sudden movement. "I hope we can all be a great team, with Naruto-kun of course."

Sasuke nodded his head curtly, and took the recently vacated seat from the scary girl. No one said anything, and Naruto was starting to feel uncomfortable until Sasuke grabbed a Bento from inside his bag and started to eat. Hinata and Naruto both started to follow his lead…

It was so boring. They didn't say anything to each other and every time Naruto tried to say something, Sasuke would glare at him like he was an idiot! Naruto was relieved to finally have the rest of the class come back in, just so he could hear some noise!

Naruto slumped in his chair in relief! Noise! Now all he had to do was wait for his new Sensei to turn up! Hopefully he wouldn't be as bad as having Sasuke as a Team Mate! With the first half an hour of waiting, almost all the other teams had gone – by almost all the others, he meant everyone but them.

Maybe their Sensei forgot? Naruto almost did that this morning too.

After an hour had passed, Naruto figured their Sensei was kicking butt and saving a Princess.

After the second hour had passed, Naruto figured that their Sensei had a super-secret, important meeting with the Hokage because he was super powerful. Sasuke had started reading a boring, big book and paid both of his team-mates no mind, Hinata sat there doing nothing – and Iruka-sensei was grading work…

After the third hour, Iruka-Sensei said he couldn't wait with them any longer because he needed to be somewhere, and Naruto decided that their new teacher as an arsehole. He deserved to be treated to hell for making him sit still and be quiet for a whole three hours! Naruto quickly hatched a plan.

He grabbed Iruka-Sensei's chalk eraser and tripped his super-secret-strong holding glue onto the top and hoped it wouldn't dry by the time he got there and wedged it into the opening of the door so that it would fall onto his new Sensei's head. But he wasn't done there! He went through one of Iruka-Sensei's cupboards and stole loads of paper – which he started to tear apart.

"….What are you doing, you idiot?"

"Genie-nee says that mess annoys everyone… If he has the mess glued to him! Muhahahaha, he'll never be late again!" Naruto said manically, letting out a demented chuckle. Sasuke looked at him slowly, almost like he was going to be cautious with him from now on.

"Do you have a sister, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked softly, and Naruto set the paper up so it'd hit him as soon as he walked in. He also started to coat the papers in his super-secret-strong glue. This guy didn't know what was about to hit him!

"Not really. She just makes me clean stuff and she sometimes makes me food," Naruto responded, not really paying attention to the progression.

"She sounds nice," she replied, even softer than the first time. Naruto looked over at her, to see that Hinata was bright pink.

Naruto smiled at her brightly. "Thanks Hinata-chan, she really is! Even if she makes me clean."

The girl went further into her redness and ducked her head, so he couldn't really see her face anymore. Man, she was really weird. More so than Genie-nee-chan! Naruto placed the finishing touches on his epic prank of epicness, and sat down quickly waiting for their Sensei to turn up.

"That's not going to work on a Jonin, idiot," Sasuke said coldly, his eyes on the dripping eraser hanging from the door. Naruto was bouncing, hehehe! That was only the distraction! It was the super-secret glue he should worry about!

Suddenly, the door opened and a one-eyed, silver haired man poked his head through the door. Everything else happened so quickly that Naruto could barely even savour it. The eraser dropped and quickly attached itself onto his hair. Thus setting the chain reaction of all Iruka's papers being shot at him.

Their new Sensei didn't even try to dodge! He just let them hit him, one after one! Naruto started to cackle madly when he saw the tall man try and brush of the paper and fail. Naruto was laughing so hard, that small tears were coming to his eyes.

If he heard properly, he swore he could see Hinata lightly laugh at the scene. Naruto could see this team working! At least one member had a sense of humour! Sasuke was just glaring at everyone judgementally.

"My first impression… is that I hate you all," the man said shortly, sounding so bored that it almost put the blonde boy to sleep! "Meet me on the roof, three minutes ago."

The man disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Sasuke's eye twitched violently, and glared at Naruto. "You just had to put him in a bad mood," Sasuke barked before storming out of the classroom and towards the stairs.

"I thought you were very creative Naruto-kun," Hinata mumbled before following Sasuke out of the room. Naruto froze, he wasn't used to getting… complimented on his pranking. He was really shaping up to like Hinata as a team mate! With a wide grin, Naruto ran out of the room and chased his team mates up the stairs and onto the roof where all his other member of his squad sitting there waiting. For him.

Naruto's grin widened when he saw the eraser clinging to the starts of his new Sensei's hair. "All of you. It's time to introduce yourselves to each other. Right? Go."

"Can you please give us an example, Hatake-sensei?" Hinata asked, her soft sweet voice carrying out in the soundless air.

"Maa maa, it's Kakashi-sensei. Well, my name is Hatake Kakashi. I have a few likes, I might dislike something. My dreams for the future are none of your business, and I… have one particular hobby." Kakashi-sensei seemed to pat his pocket after saying that.

….. "We learnt nothing form that at all!" Naruto almost yelled, pointing dramatically at the grandpa-haired man.

"Well then, how is it meant to go then?" Kakashi-sensei asked, raising his only visible eyebrow. He couldn't believe his sensei only had one eye!

Naruto pumped his fist in the air. "Right! My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like cup Ramen! I hate the thirty seconds it takes to cook cup Ramen! I like pulling pranks and getting people to buy me Ramen!... And avoiding cleaning. I hate cleaning! And one day I'm going to be the Hokage! Believe it!"

"…Riiight," the older man said slowly and turned to Hinata. "You next, little Miss."

Hinata bowed her head. "My name is Hyuga Hinata. I like gardening and flower pressing. I dislike… I don't really dislike things. My dream is to be a good leader for my clan and my hobbies are gardening as well," she said softly, and Naruto realised that he talked allot louder than Hinata did.

"Next is you then," Kakahsi-sensei shrugged towards Sasuke and Sasuke grunted to return.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are plenty of things I hate and I don't like that many things. I don't have a dream, I have an ambition, to restore my clan and to kill a certain person," Sasuke said, a small dark cloud hovering over his facial expression before he quickly hid it. Naruto shuddered lightly.

Kakashi clapped. "Right, now then…."

* * *

**Naruto's Apartment**

**9PM, after Team Assignments**

**Willow POV**

* * *

"Then, then, he walked around with an eraser stuck to his hair!" Naruto crowed and Willow smiled at the young boy with amusement. This had to be the same Kakahsi that had come by his house earlier. He was the kid's new teacher, which might explain the sudden barging in of apartment.

"Then what?" Willow asked the blonde, looking from her pot of noodles over towards the boy that was sitting on the counter – his legs swinging out from underneath him.

"Then he made us introduce ourselves but he only told us his name! And Sasuke is sooo uncool, I don't know why all the girls like him so much!" Naruto complained, a glum expression forming on his cute little features.

Willow gave him a small smile, before moving over to her second pot that contained meat that needed her own sauce. Naruto was about to get a dose of Westernised food. She was making him spaghetti. "_Now_ the girls love him, but when it comes down to it – all the girls love a guy that's going to make them laugh in the end," Willow said, winking at the boy.

Naruto perked up a little bit. "You think so, Nee-chan?"

Willow scoffed a little bit louder for effect. "Think so? I am a girl, I know so!"

Naruto ginned at her widely. "What'cha making Nee-chan? Is it Ramen?"

Willow rolled her eyes. She's been there for little over a week and Naruto never shut up about Ramen! One would think it was the food of gods with the way he talked about it! "It's called spaghetti, it's from where I come from."

"The magic Genie land!?" Naruto asked, his eyes wide and curious – ready to drink up any information that she would be able to give him.

"Yes, the magic Genie land," Willow repeated feeling faintly amused by Naruto's notion of where she came from. The blonde kid rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Did your Kaa-chan teach you how to cook, Nee-chan?" Naruto asked, every ounce of his body portraying the innocence held by a child untainted by the world.

"No, I never really meet my parents. My…. Aunt taught me," Willow explained, trying to phrase it delicately.

Naruto's blue eyes widened drastically. "I… I never meet my parents either. The Old Man says that their dead… They were fighting when the Kyubi attacked when I was born… and…"

Willow dropped her spoon which she was using to stir the meat and turned around to fully face the pre-teen fully. He looked so lost and confused. He reminded her so much of her at that age. Willow slowly moved forward. She was glad that she really didn't have to awkwardly duck her head to remain at eyesight level to talk to Naruto.

"I'm sure your parents loved you Naruto," she said, looking at him in the eyes. His clear sapphire eyes looked at her with such insecurity that she just wanted to grab him and hug him with all the intensity that she could.

"Old Man says that too…." Naruto mumbled looking down. Willow's heart broke for the boy. She grabbed him in a fierce hug.

"They must of, how can they not have? You are the sweetest young boy that I've ever had the pleasure of meeting," Willow said seriously, losing her hold on him so she could look at those sparkling eyes. "You are an amazing young kid Naruto. You show your intelligence with the brilliancy of your pranks. I used to be friends with Twins that were just like you – and they were two of the smartest people that I knew."

"Really?"

"Yep," Willow nodded her head, smiling down at the Uzumaki. "They were the best pranksters I knew – plus, they were never really good at tests either."

"But… I didn't really pass the test, Genie-nee-chan, you did it for me!" Naruto said, his shoulders dropping.

"It was all you, Naruto. You just have to focus, and learn from your new teacher – and one day, you'll make it to being the Hokage," Willow said, honestly believing every word that she spoke.

Naruto wrinkled his nose, letting Willow know that her words had pierced his skin. "But Kakashi-sensei really sucks."

"I bet you he doesn't really. Maybe he just wanted you to think that?" Willow probed, causing Naruto raise both of his eyebrows instead of just one. Willow tried not to think about how cute it was.

Willow knew the silver-haired man was intelligent. He'd noticed the milk straight away, like he was analysing the room the second he walked into it. Damn intelligent people. "…So he could beat us at the survival training!" Naruto concluded loudly. "Does that mean I should have breakfast, even though he said not to?"

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day Naruto, remember that!"

Naruto nodded his head with determination. "Yes! Nee-chan!" he gave her a mini-salute, which made the young witch chuckle.

Maybe staying with Naruto, and giving the young boy three wishes wasn't going to be such a terrible thing. The boy quite obviously deserved a break, and why shouldn't she be able to give it to him?

* * *

**Naruto's Apartment**

**Day of the Survival Training**

**Willow POV**

* * *

Willow was staring at Naruto – it felt kind of creepy watching a 12 year old as they slept. Though, it didn't feel that terrible whilst she did it. He was so small, innocent when he was sleeping. How could anyone not want to help take care of this kid? He was just so…happy. Despite everything, this kid was just plain old happy.

It was an odd occurrence. The red-haired woman slowly reached towards the boy till her hand had made contact with his shoulder, upon which she used it to shake him till he woke. Naruto groaned loudly. "Rise and shine Sleeping Beauty!" she said cheerfully. "Breakfast is ready."

"Kakashi-sensei said not to eat breakfast," Naruto mumbled, digging his face further into his now soft – and orange encased pillows.

"Breakfast is the…."

"Most important meal of the day," Naruto repeated like she was some sort of military dictator. Naruto still wouldn't get up. With a sigh, Willow quickly tried to yank the pillow out of the boys grip. He had a strong grip though, because he didn't let it slid even an inch out of his fingers.

Willow's eyes narrowed and let go. Fine then. He wanted to play it that way? Since the boy's eyes were still closed she got her wand out from its normal hiding place in her sleeve and pointed it at the boy. "Aguameni," she stated with a slight amount of amusement. The stream of water shot from her wand and hit the boy squarely in the face.

Willow quickly hid her wand again as the boy resurfaced spluttering. "What'ya do that for Nee-chan?!" Naruto demanded, pushing the water out of his eyes using his palm – or at least attempting to.

"Breakfast is ready," she chimed, walking backwards and not explain herself. "I made French Toast. I think you would like it."

"Food from Genie land, again!" Naruto cried before springing out of his bed, not like he'd been asleep two seconds prior.

Willow shook her head in amazement, where the hell did all this energy that boy had come from? Willow followed the blue-eyed boy into his small kitchenette where she could see him slowly start to devour all the slices of bread she'd prepared him.

"Eh, Nee-chan-,"

"Don't talk with your mouth full," she reminded him, cutting off whatever he was going to say. Naruto chewed his mouthful quickly before swallowing it.

"Neh, Nee-chan. Where do you get all this food from? You said you couldn't create food…." Naruto trailed off, before taking another bite of the Toast set out before him. Willow saw the hidden question because he thought she didn't have any money, and he quite obviously had nothing in his cupboards but this cup ramen.

"I brought it of course. Chew with your mouth closed please," she reprimanded. That was technically a lie, she had technically went down with the pretence of buying the food, but she didn't have much money – or any on her when she got locked in the lamp, and this kid didn't seem to have much. So she confounded the shopkeepers into thinking she'd paid.

It wasn't like she got everything from the same shop, she spread it out – to be fair, but it wasn't like she could pay. And hell be damned if her or that kid were going to starve, (or live off cup ramen.)

"Ah-okay," the boy said, after carefully swallowing his next bite, and then proceeded to eat slower so he could talk between bites.

Willow smiled, she might be able to impart some manners onto the boy yet!

* * *

**Training Ground Seven**

**Survival Training**

**Naruto POV**

* * *

When Naruto got to the training ground after eating so much of Genie-chan's amazing cooking, he was about half an hour late. And oh boy had he panicked! He'd run the whole way there! He hoped that they hadn't started without him!

He got to the training ground, and he saw Sasuke and Hinata sitting next to each other quietly. Sasuke had his eyes closed like he was sleeping and Hinata was playing with the grass. But Naruto couldn't see Kakashi-Sensei anywhere. For which he was grateful.

He wasn't late!

"You're late," came the acidic voice of the last living Uchiha.

"I'm here before Kakashi-sensei," Naruto defend loudly, crossing his arms over his cheat and glaring at the boy for even thinking to mention it.

Sasuke grunted, not bothering to move. Naruto deflated slightly and sat down next to Hinata because she was such a cooler teammate than that idiot. She didn't tell him off and she even thought he was creative, and she laughed at his prank! Yes, Hinata was a better teammate than Sasuke.

Naruto huffed, and twitched whilst he waited for his Sensei.

One hour…

Two hours…

Three hours…. God damn it! Kakashi-sensei was getting pranked, and his arse kicked! How dare he make someone like him wait for three hour, two days in a row! No! Not him! Before Naruto could grumble any more, the silver haired man appeared before them in a swirl of leaves.

Finally! "You're late!" Naruto yelled dramatically, stumbling back onto his feet and point at the Jonin dramatically.

"Really?" He asked, his only visible eye wide - like he had no idea. "Sorry, my alarm clock decided to go on a brief vacation to Suna, and he didn't think to get himself a replacement."

Naturo's jaw dropped. This guy wasn't for real was he!? "Anyway," the Jonin carried on in a cheerful voice, content in ignoring his younger students. "I managed to get another alarm, but it decided it only wanted to go off at noon, so here it goes. I guess you have till then to finish this exercise."

"Why didn't you use that clock to wake you up?" Sasuke drawled, one of his dark eyebrows arching like he was questioning the sanity of the man.

"I said that it decided it only wanted to go off at noon, it does the same thing, _every day_," Kakashi explained, waving his hand at the boy like it was of no real importance. Naruto was watching the man almost stupefied. Was he for real?

"Oh wait," Kakashi started to dig through the pouch attached to his left hip and Naruto was starting to get excited again. So what if his Sensei was an idiot, maybe he could still teach to be an awesome Ninja! The silver haired man slowly drew out two things, and Naruto's keen ears distinctively heard a light twinkle of bells.

Kakashi held up two bells for the three Genin to see, and his eye curved into an upside down U shape. "These my students are bells-"

"We're not stupid," Naruto interpreted a little bit deviously.

"Says the one with crumbs on his cheek, did you eat breakfast Naruto-kun?" Kakashi asked wagging his finger, letting the two bells jingle lightly. Sasuke turned the glare at him and Hinata looked down, going pink. "Did you want to throw up?"

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, remember that!" Naruto said, quoting Genie-nee-chan.

Kakashi blinked slowly, smiled again, and dropped the whole conversation. "Well, that's true. Anyway! You guys just need to take these bells off me before the timer stops! If you fail, you don't get lunch and you get tied to those pretty tree stumps and get to watch as I have these custom made bentos. All. To. Myself."

As if on cue, Sasuke's stomach grumbled. Kakashi-Sensei looked at Hinata with a raised eyebrow. "Ah, someone else decided that breakfast is the most important meal of the day?" Was it just Naruto, or did Kakashi-sensei seem delighted?

"My farther insisted," Hinata mumbled, almost so quiet that Naruto couldn't even hear her! "I apologize Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi waved her off. "Oh, I forgot to mention. The one getting tied to the stump will just have to go back to the Academy. You can use whatever tools that are at your disposal, attack me, kill me. Try your best!"

"We could kill you!" Naruto almost yelled, his bright eyes open wide with surprise. The blonde boy was shocked that his other teammates didn't seem to share in his objection. Maybe Hinata was too shy, and Sasuke too much of a prick.

Kakashi laughed, like really laughed. So much so that he grabbed his middle, like he was holding one of those laughing stitches that he sometimes got when he laughed too much. "You can _try_."

Naruto's eye twitched and he wanted nothing more than to throw something very sharp at the Jonin but something that Genie-nee-chan had said was ringing through his ears. Kakashi-sensei really sucks. I bet you he doesn't really. Maybe he just wanted you to think that? Her voice was ringing in his ears.

Naruto didn't hastily throw a sharp pointy object at the Jonin. Maybe Nee-Chan was right, she was right about everything else so far. Maybe Kakashi-sensei wanted them to think that he was really a big idiot, so that he didn't have to fight as hard and could be really lazy. Maybe he didn't want to pass them and wanted to send them all back to the Academy!

Hell no! That wasn't going to happen! Naruto just clenched his fist and their Sensei stopped laughing. "Right, remember… aim to kill… Go!" He called and both of his other teammates disappeared into the forest.

Right, he just had to outsmart him. Naruto was frozen. He didn't actually know what he should do! He just stared at the man who looked at him with a raised eyebrow. What did Naruto do? He didn't really know anything! He couldn't fight a Jonin! He'd never been very good at the spars. The only Jutsu he knew were the substation and the henge.

Well… his own modified version of the henge. What was he good at? Traps and pranks! How could he do that!?

"Are you just going to stand there and stare at me?"

Almost like his words sprung him into action, Naruto charged at the elder man, a Kunai slipping into his hands. He needed a weapon didn't he? "Ah good," Kakashi said cheerfully as he side-stepped Naruto's swipe. "I was beginning to think I'd petrified you."

Naruto clenched his teeth, not bothering to respond – only to throw a few knives at the man's feet, hoping that maybe he'd tip over – but he just jumped over them, and angled his legs so he was about to kick Naruto from above. Naruto quickly got himself out of the way, but he was only just fast enough to avoid getting nicked.

His Sensei was fast, really, really fast! Kakashi stilled and looked at him like he was a puzzle. Naruto threw himself towards the man again, as fast as he could possibly go and Naruto's speed was one of the best things about him. He'd needed to be really fast to avoid all those ANBU chasing him about his pranks!

Naruto aimed a kick to his shin and at the same time he threw two kunai at the man's head, thinking that maybe he wouldn't notice one of them. They hit with a resounding thank. The boy stilled in amazement not thinking that it would actually work. That was when he actually looked at it and realised that it was actually just a plank of wood with a smiley face planted on it.

Hadn't Nee-Chan said that Kakashi-sensei would be a lot cooler than he thought he would be? Sensei was just playing with him!

"Never leave your back unattended!" A voice called out from behind him, and the boy did the only thing he could at the point…

Naruto did the only thing he could think of. He ran. "Huh?" he heard his teacher mutter as he ran through a thick of trees.

What could he do!? His taijutsu wasn't even good enough to beat the other Academy students! Could he use Kunai? He could put them in a trap… or multiple traps surrounding himself, and hope Kakashi-sensei couldn't get through all of them!... He'd still need to be able to get a bell though… Maybe he could wish himself into another team… Naruto shook his head. No, he couldn't do that.

Naruto looked at the tree next to him, and began to money climb upwards. Making sure to create various traps to one that would try and climb the tree. This must've taken him a few minutes at very least, and Naruto was glad that his Sensei didn't seem to be following him up the tree. Naruto sat down, for what seemed like forever and he realised that he couldn't just sit here and wait.

Kakashi-Sensei was trying to keep the bells. Why would he come towards Naruto? Naruto quickly started to ponder what he could do. There were two bells right? What if he got one of his other teammates to help him and they split it in half!? He'd go ask Hinata because she was so much nicer than Sasuke was and then Sasuke would have to go back to the Academy!

Hahaha! Yes! Naruto jumped down from his tree, making sure to avoid his own traps and scratched the back of his neck. Where would Hinata be? He just decided to walk back towards where he'd left Kakashi.

He got there rather fast, but he hid under a bush and peered out through the leaves. He didn't want Kakashi-Sensei to see him after all! What Naruto saw surprised him. Kakashi-Sensei was leaning against a tree reading a little orange book that Naruto was sure he'd seen in the old man Hokage's draw once. Hadn't his teammates tried to battle him? Naruto looked at the trees around him and couldn't see either one of his teammates.

…What did he do now?

"That's not a very good hiding spot," Sensei said, suddenly disappearing from his sight and reappearing behind him. Naruto threw himself out of the bush and stumbled through the thorns that he hadn't already seen, leaving vivid red marks all over his skin. Kakashi-sensei looked at him from over the top of his book. "You know I expected more from the one who scored the highest on the graduating exam."

Naruto fought to keep himself upright and not rub the numerous little cuts the bush had given him in their small fight. Had he scored the highest!? Naruto wished he could have felt better at hearing those words but he knew that it wasn't him. It was Genie-chan. Would he have even passed if he hadn't wished it so?

"Neh, Sensei. Can you just give me a bell," he passed for a moment. "Please?"

"Not after I spent the entire night trying to get a chalk board eraser from my hair," Kakashi replied bluntly, looking back towards his book. Was he even going to fight him?

"Are you going to fight me?"

"The question is are you going to fight me?" Kakashi asked, tapping his finger on his book. Naruto had to think really hard. Nee-chan had said that Sensei was trying to be stupider than he was, and that might extend to him being super powerful and that would mean that Naruto really didn't have a chance!

Naruto kind of hoped he could talk his way through! Yeah! "You're a Jonin," he said.

"You finally figured it out, huh? I mean, I thought it was pretty obvious but…" Kakashi sighed before trailing off. Was this is? Was he just going to talk to his teacher until he failed at getting a bell and was sent back to the Academy?

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "Genii-Nee said that you could be super powerful and I don't wanna die, cause' you said that the aim was to kill so…."

"Fair conclusion, so you'd go back to the Academy?"

Naruto shrugged, he could always wish his way out again. "I guess…"

Kakashi smiled lightly, and in the distance Naruto heard a shrill ring. Kakashi closed his book and slid it into his pocket. "Well I guess it's time to see what's happened to your other teammates, ne?"

Naruto nodded his head and followed Kakashi-sensei albeit a little bit moodily. He was going to have to go back to School! That meant he _had _wasted a wish but, going up against Kakashi-sensei, Naruto decided that maybe he wasn't ready yet.

When Naruto had tugged back he saw Hinata sitting down dejectedly, her hands twisted in her lap and looking like she was on the verge of tears. Sasuke on the other hand was covered in dirt and was wearing a really grumpy look on his face. Naruto sat down between his teammates and looked up at Kakashi.

He appeared to be thinking hard. "You," he pointed towards Sasuke, and held up a piece of rope. "By default, you're getting tied up for being the only one to not eat breakfast."

"You told us to not eat breakfast," the black haired boy protested, as the Jonin secured him to a wooden post. His eye twitched.

"I was challenging you to think for yourself. Just because your superior tells you to do something, it doesn't mean you always have to follow that rule," Kakashi said sternly. "As Naruto said, breakfast is a very important meal. Imagine what you could have done with the energy they had from actually eating?"

Sasuke went silent and put his head down slightly. "I've changed my mind. None of you should go back to the Academy."

Naruto's head shot up is disbelief, was he still actually going to be allowed to become a ninja?! Really! "No, you should just quit altogether! You don't have what it takes! You, Sasuke, blindly follow orders and don't think to analyse your opponent's capabilities before you charge in. You think you can do it alone, that's a lie. Hinata, you are much to gentle, I told you that you wouldn't get anything unless you aimed to kill… and Naruto, you tried to fight me and once you realised you had no chance, you tried to talk your way into a bell. Not all enemies are going to leave you alive long enough to allow you to do that!"

Naruto hung his head. It was true. But… "That doesn't mean we should give up though!" Naruto glanced over to Hinata who looked like she was trying to hold back tears. "Giving up means quitting! Which would make all our work for nothing!"

"Do any of you know the true meaning of this test?" Kakashi asked in retaliation.

"To get the bells?" Naruto asked hesitantly when he noticed that his other two teammates weren't at all inclined to talk.

"No," he said coldly. "All three of you weren't a match for someone like me by yourself, but, together you would have had the power of three Genin over one."

Naruto blinked not really understanding. "Teamwork, the meaning was teamwork," Sasuke grumbled. Naruto's eyes widened.

"You'd all die on your first mission," Kakashi said coldly, shaking his head, before throwing two bentos at the three soon to be Ex-Genin. "I might give you a second chance. But don't feed Sasuke."

He turned around and disappeared. Hinata grabbed one of the boxes with her hand shaking violently. Naruto grabbed his at a slower pace. Was Kakashi-sensei right? He didn't really know much… but he could change that! He just needed some kick-arse Jutsu and some cool as training and he'd be fine.

Naruto opened the bento and realised that they were the pre-made ones he sometimes brought from the little restaurant from the corner of the street next to his. He liked those people, they never turned him away… He wondered why people hated him so much. Hinata turned her food over, and she looked like she was actually going to eat it – she looked like she really wanted to cry though.

Naruto felt uncomfortable. "Don't worry Hinata-chan! We'll pass! Believe it! We'll all work as a team and get those bells!" He smiled at her and threw her a thumbs up. Hinata went slightly pink, but at least she didn't look she wanted to cry anymore.

She looked at her food for a few moments before offering to Sasuke. "Huh!? What are you doing?" Naruto asked her.

"If we work together, we're all going to need to be well fed. I've eaten breakfast and I don't really eat that much…" she trailed off, nervously looking around. "I checked, Kakashi-sensei isn't in the radius. So… please take some!"

Sasuke nodded with a half grin on his face, and Naruto sighed before pushing his towards the prick too. "Fine. Hinata-Chan's right. We need all three of us to kick Kakashi-sensei's arse!"

"What are you doing!?" Kakashi loomed in and Hinata's eyes widened in confusion. "I said to not share the bentos! That's it! You….Pass! Congratulations!"

"Wait what?!" Naruto stood up pointing at the tardy Jonin and started to yell. "You can't just do that to us! It's not nice!"

"I'm not a nice person," Kakashi shrugged with a laugh, turning around. "See you all here at seven tomorrow morning, when we actually become Team 7! And just remember this! In the ninja world those who don't follow the rules are trash but those who abandon their team mates are below trash."

* * *

**Naruto's Apartment**

**Post-Bell Test**

**Willow's POV**

* * *

"-And then, and then Kakashi-sensei was all like 'I'm not a nice person'! And then he just went 'poof'! Do ya think he'll teach me how to do that!? It would be soo cool!" Naruto raved, accidentally knocking over his glass of milk. The glass fell over the side of the table and loudly smashed against the ground.

"Oops."

Willow waved the kid off, just happy that he was so excited. She'd repair it later when she could actually use her wand without the kid noticing. Maybe it would be easier to start trying to not use her wand? That way she could keep up her pretense without the difficulty. "Why don't you go grab the milk?" she asked the young boy.

"But why Nee-chan?"

"It's a surprise," she said with a sly wink, the second he turned around though, there was a wand in her hand and she wordlessly repaired the cup, slipping her wand back up her sleeve.

Naruto turned around again, only to stumble in surprise. "You fixed it!"

"I can do that," she replied dryly. "Come on. Tell me more about your team. What are they like?"

"Well, Hinata-chan is really quiet but she's way nicer than Sasuke-baka cause' he's just a prick. He was the only one to not have breakfast and that made him really grumpy but he doesn't talk a lot so-"

Willow smiled indulgently and continued to let Naruto natter on about his day.

* * *

**The Hokage's Office**

**Post Genin Exam**

* * *

"So, Kakashi. What do you have to tell me about our resident troublemaker?" The Hokage asked the silver-haired Jonin slouched comfortably in front of his desk.

Kakashi shrugged. "He's obviously very, very good at playing dumb or I'm just not seeing it."

The Hokage intertwined his fingers and rested them on his desk. "What happened during the test?"

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head, but obliged. "He was loud, and... he acts very similar to his mother. He first attempted a contact battle right away, I would rate his skills at below Genin – he didn't use any Jutsu, so I can only conclude that he can't use them in a battle. Once he realised he was outclasses he ran, and only resurfaced to ask me for the bells."

"Interesting," the Hokage said slowly, closing his eyes and wondering where all of this drama was coming from. "You passed the team, correct?"

"It's not like I had much of a choice," Kakashi grumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets.

The Hokage tilted his head to one side. "That is true… Did Naruto mention anything amiss?"

Kakashi hesitated. "He did mention someone called 'Genie-nee' telling him not to underestimate me as an opponent."

The Hokage sat up straight. "Genie? That's a very curious name. I want you to find out about her, and report it back to me within the next week. Dismissed, Kakashi."

"Maa, yes sir," Kakashi's voice was on the border line of a whine. Why was he dragged into all this trouble? Was it too much to ask for a lazy day when all he had to do was read Icha Icha and not bother with a trio of annoying Genin?

Was it too much to ask for?! Kakashi resigned himself to having an interesting few months ahead of him. Kakashi resisted the urge to groan. Why was Naruto such a confusing kid!?


	3. Chapter 3

**Ain't Never Had A Friend Like Me**

* * *

**Naruto's Apartment**

**Willow's POV**

* * *

"I suck."

"You don't suck, Naruto. What's the matter?" the young red-haired woman asked looking towards the boy who had just stormed into the room, slamming the door behind him just to throw himself onto a chair and attempt to bury his head in his arms.

"I do, I suck and being a ninja – and I'm never, ever, ever going to become Hokage!" He cried dramatically throwing his hands up and pining her with a rather scary stare. "I can't even catch a cat!"

"….a cat?" Willow asked with a raised eyebrow, moving to sit opposite the boy. What the heck was this kid on about?

Naruto ran a hand through his hair violently, looking like he was on the brink of despair. "The missions we get suck. We have to catch cats – and the cat's evil! And, and we have to baby sit, and walk dogs! And, and we have to do gardening for people!"

"That doesn't make you suck. I'm sure all you have to do is work your way up to doing the bigger stuff," she attempting to reassure the distraught blonde.

"I'm a Ninja! I should be doing Ninja stuff! We're not doing it because I suck, obviously!" Naruto said dramatically, rising his head only to throw it back down. _Teenagers_, Willow shook her head not really sure how to deal with this.

Her experience as a thirteen year old had been slightly different. She thought back to the time where she was attempting to find a kill Sirius for what she thought was righteous retribution. Willow frowned. No, she couldn't really go off her own experiences… "You just need to get better then, why don't you ask your Sensei for some extra work?"

"Sensei doesn't want to teach me," Naruto said darkly. "All he does is read porn and make us do team work exercises! I haven't learned anything!"

"Read porn?" Willow asked with a raised eyebrow. Did they not do working with children checks here? Then again, she wasn't too sure that Hogwarts had done those either. She meant, she'd been taught by Snape, Lockheart, Umbridge… That was just naming a few.

"Yes! I've even seen the old man reading it before too!"

Willow really needed to get away from the conclusion she was drawing about the people in this place – whoever this place actually was. "Well, why don't I help you train?"

"You would do that Genii-Nee-Chan?!" Naruto asked brightly. Willow winced but nodded anyway. What the hell was she agreeing too!? She wasn't a freaking ninja, nor did she have any idea how to be one!

"We can start tomorrow, after you go to team training. And yes, you still have to go," Willow said levelling him with a bright stare. "No ifs' or buts!"

Naruto viability deflated and that lead Willow to believe that it wasn't only him 'sucking' as a ninja that he was complaining about. "Teachers are always going to ignore you in favour of others. It's their own fault for not seeing the talent that is already there."

His teachers' teaching style reminded her of Snape, and although it turned out that Snape had died protecting her – he was still a douche. Naruto grumbled about something under his breath.

Willow attempted not to roll her eyes at his surly attitude, instead lowering herself down to eye level and speaking softly to the boy. You just have to show him that you _are_ an amazing ninja, and prove to him that it's his loss for not teaching you properly."

Naruto nodded his head slowly, the look in his eyes showed Willow that he didn't really believe what she was saying. What had happened that made all the adults in this place show open contempt for the young blonde?

It wasn't normal to treat a kid this way. Willow had a light frown marring her face. This happened when she was fifteen, but, at that time she was being slandered for insisting that Voldemort was back. She doubted this thirteen year old kid was claiming that a dead Dark Lord was back from the dead and attempting to take over a country.

So what was up here?

* * *

**Willow POV**

**Konoha State Library**

* * *

Willow had no idea what it meant to be a ninja. That was why the second Naruto left for team training, and some sort of mission. For her sake she hoped it wasn't the one where he had to catch that cat again, because hell, she didn't want to hear about it again.

She was fond of Naruto, somewhat attached to him, if she was being honest with herself. But if she heard about that god damned cat one more time… Willow shook her head slowly, she needed to put this out of her mind. She just needed to figure out how to be a ninja. Or at least, she needed to teach Naruto a few tricks that would help him.

The only reason she'd agreed to help him in the first place was because she was the reason he passed the exam, and if he died or got injured in the process then it would be on her hands. She'd obviously not really thought this through too much. Never the less, she cast a quick charm over herself to make herself invisible, or as best as she could get, before the entered the library.

She was certain that she wouldn't be allowed to access any ninja related materials when she wasn't a ninja herself. It made sense. Walking through the big wooden doors, she looked around for the section that housed the reading materials for ninja.

She realised it would be the sectioned off part right away. She walked over to the red curtain, that she was sure was meant to be keeping people like her out and stared at it for a few moments. Was it going to stop her from walking over it? Willow shrugged her shoulders, and stepped over the rope and then stopped.

And waited.

Nothing happened. With a small sigh of relief, Willow moved over to the books, not really sure what she was going to be looking for. On one of the bookshelves though, she noticed the word 'Genin' etched onto the wood.

If she remembered correctly this was a rank, the one Naruto was at. Looking closely at the books, she decided on four that she was going to take with her. The reason she wanted four was because she wasn't going about taking these in an exactly legal way. If shrinking, turning invisible and then stealing books wasn't illegal, then she didn't know what to make of this place.

Meh, she'd return them once she was done with them anyway. Willow grabbed a few covers that she thought might help her in helping Naruto. 'Taijutsu Basics', 'Ying and Yang, the myth of chakra', 'The corrections of simple weaponry' and 'A comprehensive guide of D-Rank Jutsu', all seemed like it had something that he'd mentioned to her before.

Willow made sure that there was no one around to see her take the books before she slipped the miniaturized books into her pockets, and slipping out of the library to go back to Naruto's house and begin reading the rather large novels.

If Hermione could see her now, she'd be so proud.

* * *

**The Hokage's Office**

**2PM**

* * *

"What do you mean numerous books went missing in the span of ten minutes?"

The Chunin that had drawn the smallest straw blushed bright red and went to stammer the rest of his answer. God damn it, he wasn't even on when the books went missing! "F-f-from the Genin section, sir. Four books have seemed to disappear."

"What were they about?" The Hokage demanded, wondering how on earth someone would manage to get passed the stationed guards and get passed the chakra infused seals decorating the red rope that cut off that section of the public library.

"Random things Hokage-Sama," the boy responded warily. "Chakra theory, basics in taijutsu and weaponry and a… guide to D ranked Jutsu."

"With all the effort it would take to get passed the seals, one would think they would take something of more value," the Hokage mused. It didn't make much sense to him. If they put through all the effort to get passed all the defences, why not go a few more steps to the Jonin section?

Not that much was kept in there, only things that were general knowledge, but someone with the ability to get passed some of their more advanced wards was someone worth fearing indeed. "I want you to up the security of the library, and inform me if you manage to capture the person."

"Yes Sir!" the boy said with a salute, just happy to not have been yelled at for the disappearance of the books! Thank Kami!

* * *

**Willow POV**

**Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

"Flatten your wrist kid," Willow instructed her eyes somehow both glued to the book and back towards Naruto. "No, no, it says you're going to break your wrist if you punch someone and don't flatten it out like -," Willow held her arm out and showed him exactly what she meant and in his determination he copied her exactly. "Yes, that's it! Next stance!"

The young boy moved to his next stance, and she frowned, had no one thought to correct anything about his fighting stances? According this the book she had opened in front of her, the kid had a tonne wrong with the way he was just holding himself. It was obvious that no one had really put in any effort to teaching him.

Maybe she'd done the right thing by getting him out of that environment, and right into another one, she reminded herself with a scowl. "First off, don't move your feet like that, your gonna trip yourself over – just slide them slightly and put the weight of your body on your….. Heel, yeah the heel of your foot."

"What's the heel of my foot?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow. Willow paused for a minute, taking note to teach him what every single body part was called in their next session. She simply raised her bare foot as and pointed to the little heal of her foot. "Ah, right," Naruto said his brows threading together in confusion.

"You can do this kid," Willow reassured, grabbing a spoon that she'd been using for her tea moments before to hit his wrist. Naruto looked at her stunned that she'd hit him with a spoon. "Flatten your wrist though."

"Yes, Nee-Chan!"

* * *

"Run Naruto!"

"B-but, Genii-Chan!" Naruto whined stopping for a moment to catch his breath, but she was having none of it. She was turning into Oliver Wood.

"If you have spare breath to talk, then your obviously not tired enough! Run Naruto!" Willow yelled pointing at the young blonde dramatically.

"B-b-."

"Not buts! Run!" At the red heads words, the boy broke into a run, easily forming perfect laps around the abandoned playground. It was eleven at night, and Willow was pretty sure that no self-respecting parent would allow their child at the playground at this time. Willow of course, did not fall into this category. To be a ninja, she was sure the boy needed to be agile and fast. Plus doing this helped her stall a little bit and allowed her to read further into those books.

Naruto started slowing down again. "Are you slowing down, kid!? Faster!"

Naruto picked his speed up again and she was honestly amazed. The kid just had so much energy. He was on his 96th lap for god's sake!

* * *

"And this is?"

"Kidney?" Naruto hesitated. The two were sprawled out on the kids bed and Willow held a picture of Naruto she'd magiced into a piece of paper, and she was attempting to teach him about all his body parts and his internal organs.

"No," Willow said slowly, pointing to the spot again. "Think harder Naruto."

"…Lung?" he sounded hesitant.

"Yes! Great job Naruto!" Willow cheered, and large smile on her face that was soon reflected on the young boys face.

"Yes! I knew I could do it!" Naruto cheered, pumping his fist into the air, eliciting a laugh from Willow. "Does that mean we can have Ramen for dinner!?"

Willow rolled her eyes fondly. "Let's make a deal. If you manage to remember at least half of this, we can have Ramen."

Willow had no idea how to make Ramen but…eh. "Yes! Ramen!" the boy cheered.

* * *

**Willow POV**

**Konoha Library**

* * *

Willow slipped the books she'd stolen back into the right place a week after she took them, and then slipped a few more out of their places. It never hurt to have more things to reference to. Plus, she had some fun teaching Naruto things. The boy was so bright and happy to learn that he was transferring his enthusiasm to her.

She was almost happy with her current situation. Willow carefully walked back over the red rope, that she was sure had changed since the last time she'd come in. Plus, she'd actually seen people behind the desks this time. What an odd thing.

Willow shrugged her shoulders and walked right out of the library and into a small alleyway before she cancelled the spell. She needed to go to a bit of shopping anyway, and the best part of doing this was the fact that she got to talk to other adults. Granted she then stole their products not ten minutes later, but she liked to converse with people.

Willow strolled into a few supermarkets getting random ingredients and having to make do with others. Maybe she should attempt to make something front his culture and not bastardize English recipes by not having what she actually needed to make them? Willow shrugged her shoulders, deciding it couldn't hurt – maybe she'd start teaching Naruto how to cook?

Willow smiled, now that would be an interesting experience. Naruto didn't know much outside of Cup Ramen, and it would be amusing to teach him how to make things. Willow nodded her head decided on that course of action before walking down the roads in search of a book store. She could go back to the library but she didn't practically feel the need to.

She wanted to talk to the person behind the counter. The socializing did well for her. Willow kept walking before she noticed a small store with a picture of a book displayed proudly next to the name 'Rin's'. Deciding that it would be as good as any, Willow slipped through the doors, trying to ignore the happy twinkle of the bell as she walked in.

Placing the bags of edible goods down by the door, after getting a nod of assent from the girl working behind the counter, she moved forward. First she scanned the amount of cookbooks that the place held, not finding as many as she would've hoped for. Never the less, she picked up the biggest looking one and decided that Naruto and she could try out one a day.

They'd both be learning something new that way.

Willow wasn't really ready to leave just yet though. As a child under the care of the Durselys she'd often turned to literature to help her cope with the mild forms of abuse, not unlike Hermione had with her textbooks, but she liked fiction. Mainly romance, she loved the idea that things could really be that simple and life could just be easy.

She liked adventure more at one point, but after her first year at Hogwarts, she never wanted to touch an adventure book again. She'd lived through too much adventure, she just wanted to relax now. Shaking herself out of her dark thoughts, she grabbed an eye-catching orange book off the shelf.

She looked over the bright orange cover, that somewhat reminded her of Naruto, and read the title, "Come, come paradise?" she said out loud, eyeing the book over critically. There was no blurb in the back or any other words on the cover other than the author's name, Jiraiya.

She flicked the cover open the read the first page, only to be stopped by a voice. "I'd recommend reading the first in the series before that one," the decidedly male voice interjected. Willow looked up, to see a bundle of white hair restrained by a ninja headband.

It was Naruto's teacher, Hatake Kakashi.

"What if I've already read the first one?" Willow challenged, raising one of her fiery red eyebrows at the man.

"The look of confusion as you picked up the book in the first place," Kakashi responded, his only visible eye curing into an upside down U. Ah, Willow had forgotten he was one of those smart types. A Ravenclaw for sure.

"Don't ninja have something better to do then give teenagers advice on reading material?" Willow deadpanned, knowing full well she wasn't a teenager, but she looked like one and she was fully willing to capitalize on this fact.

"Probably, but my cute little student ruined my version of that book and I need to replace it," the man shrugged his shoulders, carefully extracting the book from his pocket and Willow could clearly see the massive gaping hole through the book.

Willow looked back at the bookshelf and she let a smile quirk her lips. "It looks like this is the only copy of this one they have," Willow acknowledged. "This must be unfortunate for you. You'll have to wait for them to restock it. I wonder how long that will take."

"So cold," Kakashi muttered, pocketing the damaged books. "Are you sure you want that one?"

"Not really," Willow admitted and the mans' visible eye took on an unprecedented shine. "But now that you want it, I don't think I can bare to part with it."

Teach him for not teaching Naruto properly!

Kakashi hesitated. "I could pay you?"

Willow looked down at the book, was it really worth paying someone for the book, and then buying the book? "I'm sure there's another book store in Konoha…" Willow muttered.

"You haven't read the first book for certain," The Ninja laughed lightly, and Willow raised an eyebrow at him again. "If you had, you would know they it's been banned from most stores for… its… unique content."

"Most be worth a lot to you then," Willow mused tilting the book back and forth. "Enjoy waiting for it."

Willow turned on her heal to confuse the cashier into thinking she'd paid, granted she count do that with this guy following her. "Wait, wait, and don't be hasty! I'm sure I can help you find something you'd prefer to read."

He sounded somewhat despite. She'd have to ask Naruto about the story with his Sensei's book at dinner. "I really want _this _one though," she responded ignoring the fact that she'd just said she didn't care any way about the silly book.

It was damn principle! Willow moved over to grab the bags of food she'd placed by the side of the room and rearranged them on her arms. "I could buy you all the cookbooks that you want?" he offered.

Willow paused. She could make him suffer the three day wait for the book, or she could drain his finances, which she was certain would make him cry more than not having the book. Willow shrugged. "Aright. I want them all."

The only visible eye widened. "All of them?"

Willow nodded her head with a smug look on her face but the man just repeated her nod. "Aright then."

That was how Willow managed to gain ten new cookbooks and an shocked look on her face as she trudged back to Naruto's apartment. He was going to need a bookshelf in his house just for these books! How she managed to carry them all was beyond her.

Naruto's Sensei was an odd character indeed.

* * *

**Willow POV**

**Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

"Neh… Nee-Chan… Where did all these books come from?"

"That is a good question, Naruto," Willow paused not really knowing how to explain it to the kid. "The answer to that question isn't going to be revealed just yet – but, I _will_ use these books to teach you how to cook!"

Naruto's face scrunched up. "I thought you were teaching me to become a ninja!"

"I am," Willow confirmed. "You'll need to be able to cook to be a ninja. What if you need to go undercover and you have to cook something?" she challenged.

Naruto gaped at her, before a giant grin broke out on his face. "Yeah! Cooking as an undercover ninja!"

Willow shook her head fondly. "Aright, come on, let's get started – pick a recipe!"

Naruto nodded his head and picked up the smallest cookbook and carefully went through every page with Willow watching his face morph at every suggestion. It was actually rather adorable. "Chicken teriyaki!"

Willow nodded her head, she was sure she'd had that at one point when she was with the Durselys. They'd had many different fazes of food, and she was lucky enough to get caught helping her Aunt make said dishes. "Aright Chef, what is it that we need?"

Naruto's chest puffed up from the title that she'd given him. Willow's lips tilted upwards into a small smile – he was such a sweet little kid. "Sugar, soy sauce, mirin, chicken, salt, rice, peas and Sake!" Naruto paused for a minute. "I'm not allowed to have Sake, am I?"

Willow paused. She didn't have that ingredient, but if Naruto thought he shouldn't have it – then maybe she could just skip it. What was it anyway? "We will be fine without that one, I'm sure, Chef."

"Aright!" Naruto pumped the air, sliding the book over the table so that they could both read it at the same time. Willow had quickly realised that Naruto's reading skills were not exactly on par with everyone else's, and she was currently working on fixing that.

"So we have to mix all these things together in a bowl," she guessed to the ingredients. She measured them out properly before letting the blonde tip them into the bowl and mixing all the ingredients together.

"Is that okay, Nee-Chan?" Naruto asked, pushing the slightly bubbly mixture back at her. Willow nodded her head and responded with a quiet 'perfect'.

"Next, you need to cut up the chicken," Willow said after reading the step. "Watching?" she asked the young boy before dicing the chicken into perfect cubes. "Ready to try?"

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked, looking at the chicken cubes doubtfully.

Willow shrugged. "If you can throw knifes at people, I'm sure you can dice chicken," she assured him. "By the way kid, did you happen to throw a knife at anything lately?"

"Whaaa? Oh yeah! I threw a kunai at Sensei's perverted book! He wasn't paying any attention to me and then, pow! Hahahaha! He was expecting it at all!" Naruto laughed, waving the knife around in his enthusiasm.

"Hey! Don't wave the knife around like that Naruto!"

"Sorry," Naruto said with a sheepish smile, putting the knife down before he continued. "It was so cool. Hinata-Chan even told me so!"

"Good job kid. I want you to do it again, and then tell me about it when you do. Just not with the orange one," Willow said winking at him and he didn't even seem to realise that he hadn't told her what the colour of the book was.

Naruto was simply ecstatic that she'd given him the go ahead to stab things. "Right now we put this mix into the fry-pan, and wait for it to go golden brown," Willow read again. She showed the boy how to turn the stove to the right setting (dear lord, who thought this kid was ready to live alone?) and then she hand him mixing the chicken on the stove, waiting for it to go to the right colour.

She got the rice and peas into a pot whist he did that. "Is it done?"

"I think so," Naruto said slowly. Willow peaked over his shoulder and beamed at the boy. "It's great! You're a natural!"

Naruto bounced up and down at the praise. Willow had learned rather quickly that no one really praised Naruto and every time he did something well, she was sure to use positive reinforcement. He seemed to respond very well to it.

"Now let's get it in the fridge and wait for the rice to cook."

Naruto nodded his head eagerly, and the chicken was easily put away again. "That was fun Nee-Chan. Can we do it again?!"

Willow chuckled. "Of course, we can do it every night, before we get to the ninja practice of course." She said with a sly wink. "With that in mind, I believe we have some body parts to name!"

* * *

**The Hokage's Office**

**12PM**

* * *

"Are you telling me, that when I said 'increase the defences' you didn't do a good enough job?" The Hokage asked with a raised eyebrow when another nervous Chunin stumbled into his office.

The first incident begin a week ago, the Hokage thought that this issue was over and done with. "Not only that, but the old books managed to be _returned_, and more were _taken_, without any of you realising it was happening?"

"In our defence Hokage-Sama, there was no chakra sensed in the area…" The Chunnin attempted to defend himself.

"Are you telling me that the Chunnin staff there are simply incompetent?" The man stared into the Chunnin's very soul. The man shuddered. They didn't pay him enough to deal with this sort of crap!

"I'm sorry Hokage-Sama," the man bowed his head at his Leader who looked like he was reaching the end of his tether.

"What did they take this time?" The Hokage finally asked, his eye twitching before resting on the part of his desk that housed his Icha Icha book. No wonder Kakashi was always reading the damn thing, it was much easier to read the book and ignore all the people that attempted to converse with him.

He wished he got the same luxury as the Hokage as Kakashi seemed to have. The Hokage sighed. "Relaxation Techniques', 'The Guide to Accessing Chakra', and '101 ways to die in hand to hand combat'."

The Hokage raised his eyebrow. What the hell was this thief attempting to do?! The Hokage resisted the urge to sigh again. "Up. The. Defences. I want you to place a guard 24/7 around the area. Find. That. Person."

"Yes Sir!"

Willow strolled down the street with an easy gait. She slipped into the same book store that she'd been in a week before and strolled over to the bookshelf that housed that novels that Naruto's Sensei seemed to like. Naruto had happily informed her that he'd impaled his Sensei's green book. Willow was hoping that he followed pattern and got his book in around ten minutes.

Willow scanned the shelf, seeing two copies of the infamous book. With a light smirk, Willow looked around before shrinking one of them and quietly shoving it into her pocket. She was really becoming a good little thief. She would pay them back, she assured herself. When she could.

Granted this would technically be the first time she'd actually stolen a book from this place. She was using whatever Slytherin part of her was left to get someone else to buy her them. Willow quickly grabbed the green book, giving it a curious once over. What was it about this book that had everyone up in arms?

Whilst she was looking over the fine detail of the blurb-less book, she heard a light twinkle, indicating someone else walking into the store. "I'm starting to think you're arranging my book being stabbed."

Willow looked away from the small book in amusement, if only he knew…! "Your cute little student didn't destroy your book, again, did he?" Willow could barely contain a smirk as she watched the older (presumably) man lean on the shelf next to her. His eye lazily surveying the shelf for another copy. Which she had stored safely in her pocket. "Maybe you shouldn't read it in front of them?"

"Maa, you've never had to teach a twelve year old with ADHD then," he muttered under his breath, his eye twitching when he realised that she held the only copy. Willow rolled her eyes. Naruto didn't have ADHD, he was just… excitable, and easily distracted….

Willow's mind flashed back to teaching the DA. A light smile turned her lips upward, she missed her home so much. She'd give anything just to see that rag-tag group of defence students again. "Maybe you just need to pay more attention," she suggested.

Kakashi waved her off. "What would you like for that book, My Lady?"

Willow couldn't help but smile and laugh. She decided that she wanted to play with him a bit more. "I'm sorry Hatake Kakashi, but I really want to read it this time."

The silver haired Ninja straitened up with the mention of his name, a slightly wary look entering his eye. "You know my name? It seems I'm at a disadvantage."

"Doesn't everyone know your name?" A trick she'd learned from being taught by Lockheart, everyone loved it when you made them see more important than they were. It also helped you get away with things.

The Hatake shrugged and raised an eyebrow, obviously waiting for her to divulge her name. "You know, my … little brother training to be a ninja," she commented, ignoring the silent request for her name.

"You want me to train him?" He asked, a slight groan heard on his voice. Willow hadn't considered that. Maybe next time!

"Oh heavens no, I've seen the way your students treat you. Can't be a very good teacher…" Kakashi's eye twitched, she hit a nerve there, did she? "No, I want you to buy a nice set of those knife things. He always complains that his are too blunt."

Well, he had complained, they seemed plenty sharp to her. She'd attempted to sharpen them with magic and it worked somewhat, but she felt he could benefit from proper ones. "Do you know which _'knife things'_ he uses?" The man looked like he was inwardly cringing at her lack of proper terminology.

She didn't want to seem too knowledgeable. "The pointy ones with a cool looking handle?"

He looked like he was resisting the urge the hit his head with his hands. Willow smiled sweetly pretending that she couldn't notice. Did he realise that he was an open book? Maybe that's why he had three quarters of his face hidden under a mask…

"One of these?" he asked, pulling a kunai out of his pocket and twirling it around one finger. That looked kind of dangerous. Willow looked towards the girl behind the counter – was it illegal to pull a knife out inside a store? Willow nodded her head energetically. "I'll get you a case. The book?"

Willow handed it over with no complaints, and Kakashi looked like he had a dark cloud hanging over his head. "We get them now?" Willow asked with a grin, knowing she'd gotten what she wanted.

Kakashi walked over to the counter with Willow walking closely behind him. "I'm late to meet my team you know."

"I'm sure they relish the time away from you, if all they seem to do is attempt murder," Willow quipped with a bright laugh following not too long after. Kakashi simply blinked at her and shrugged.

Kakashi quietly paid for the book and left the store, gesturing for Willow to follow him. Which she did, with much amusement. "So," she said, attempting to engage him in conversation again, when he seemed quite happy just to walk in silence whilst reading his book. "Why do you wear a mask?"

"Why do you have red hair?" He responded his eyes never leaving the page, and still managing to doge people. This was a skill!

"I was born with that, so was my mother ironically enough. You can't tell me you were born with a mask on," Willow responded airily. "You have buck teeth, don't you?"

"Wouldn't you be able to tell that even with the mask on?" Kakashi asked, raising his eyebrow. Which was amusing to witness when his eye never left his book. Willow had no response for that. "Right in here," he snapped his book shut and gestured for her to enter the tiny little shop.

The first thing that Willow registered when she walked into the store was aloud shout of, "_my eternal rival!"_ and a flash of green jumpsuit – that she was certain Fred or George would wear. Behind her, she heard Kakashi groan and mutter, "damn it!"

What she saw when she managed to register everything shocked even her. There was a man, about the same height as Kakashi with a black bowl shaped haircut in a green jumpsuit and his teeth were so white. How did he get them that white…? Behind him hid his mini-me, and girl with twin buns and a boy whose hair was longer than hers was.

Kakashi deemed them unworthy of his time, and chose to pretend the man wasn't in the room. "My eternal rival! I challenge you to a race!" Wait, what?

"Hm, did you say something?" Kakashi muttered, giving him an unimpressed look before turning to the man behind the counter. "I need a box of Genin approved Kunai, preferably very sharp ones."

"Why are you so hip and cool!?" The man cried throwing himself at the ground dramatically, breaking down in pathetic tears. They flooded down his face and Willow hesitated.

"Are you aright?" she finally asked the black haired man, against her better judgement. He just look like a kicked puppy. She couldn't help herself.

"You've done this to yourself, just remember that," Kakashi muttered to her, slipping the man a bundle of notes for a clean looking black box.

"Y-you…" then man gaped, looking at her like he hadn't noticed her walk into the store in front of the man he was challenging to a race. Willow smiled hesitantly, which was apparently the wrong move. "You are a very beautiful young flower to worry about me!"

"Thank you?" Willow said, with it ending up sounding like a question.

"Neji, it's happening again!" The brown haired girl, grabbed the long haired boy (Neji, obviously)'s sleeve. "Stop it from happening again Neji!"

"It's too late TenTen," Neji coolly informed TenTen. Willow felt like she should be backing away from this situation quickly.

"Your springtime of youth shines so brightly, flower! Would you do me the honour of going on a youthful date with me?!" The man, what was his name? Was on his knees and his hands were clasped together like he was going to beg her.

Willow hesitated, not very sure how to handle the situation. She looked over at Kakashi who was in the process of rubbing one of his silver eyebrows. "You don't even know her name Gai," Kakashi finally groaned out, coming to her aid.

"Right! How unyouthful of me! Young flower! My name is Might Gai, can I enquire as to your name?" As his prompting Willow hesitated, and she noticed the smug aura that Kakashi was projecting. He thought he was going to get her name. Ba!

"Uh um, uham… Well, I've got to actually go. Um, I'll take the bribe from you," she gestured to Kakashi, who handed her the case with no complaints. "And, um, sorry. Running terribly late to uh, my cats school reunion, and um, maybe another time."

With that Willow practically bolted from the door. Only sticking around long enough to hear Kakashi's muffled laughter.

* * *

**Willow POV**

**Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

Willow didn't leave Naruto's apartment for a few days after the stunt she pulled. She was scared by which Jonin Ninja she would have to face should she dare the leave the building. She'd made Naruto promise not to use the kunai at team practice for at least a month, least his teacher recognise them.

Never the less, Willow felt like Naruto was progressing at a steady pace. He seemed happy to train, and even happier when he finally got something. The only thing he was missing was experience actually fighting with the stances that she was correcting. She did notice that with every repetition, he got better and better, with little to no mistakes that she could pick on.

She didn't know how to build of muscle mass really, and she wasn't sure if any of Naruto's hits would pack any bite. Naruto might actually have to get a sparring partner for that one. The other thing she had trouble teaching him ironically enough, was the one most like magic. Yet, it had nothing in common.

Willow couldn't understand how to mould chakra at all. She figured it had something to do with the fact that she really didn't have any. But all the damn books she'd read on the topic didn't really shed any light on the issue, and she felt like he needed a teacher (a real one) for that aspect too. It wasn't like the poor kid could rely on his teacher for that... unless…

Willow's grin widened as a brilliant thought stuck her. Really, she should have been a Slytherin with the way that her plans seemed to mould themselves! Except she wasn't as dark as all Slytherins seemed to be. The door to Naruto's little apartment slammed open to reveal an angry little blonde pre-teen.

"What's wrong, kiddo?" The green-eyed woman asked as he threw himself on the floor, grasping at the pillow he'd left on the floor that morning.

"I suck," he responded dully. Willow had a strange sense of de-ja-vu.

"What's wrong this time?"

"I can't even win against a spar with Hinata-Chan, and everyone beats Hinata-Chan! And and, I don't know any jutsu that I can use and Sasuke thinks he's soooo cool with his Fire Ball Jutsu, and, and, he's not that cool. He's just a jerk and…" The blue eyed boy began to rave, although he did seem to be really upset.

"Hey kid. Why don't you ask Hinata to be a sparring partner outside of team training?" She tried. "If you have more practice, then you can both get better."

Naruto made a face. "I don't wanna hit Hinata-Chan."

Willow sighed. "You could always ask Sasuke."

The blonde's face scrunched up in disgust and poked his tongue out at her. "Can't you make me a training partner, Genii-Nee?"

"I can't make _people_ Naruto. But I can teach you a method to get some additional training from your Sensei?"

"Really!? What is it?"

* * *

**Naruto POV**

**Team Training**

* * *

Naruto was bouncing with excitement. He didn't really want to hang out with his teammates after team training cause' Sasuke was a jerk and Hinata was a little bit weird. He didn't want to tell Genii-Chan because he was scared of what she would say.

Was Hinata planning his murder? All she did was stare at him as he trained or did anything. Then she would beat him when they sparred (however rarely that was). She was so strange! The only thing worse than the Jerk, and odd team mate, was his Sensei.

He was a lazy pervert! He taught him nothing! He just sat there and read his book and told them when to take a break. And Nee-Chan thought the man could teach him something!? Hah!

"Hey Hey, Kakashi-Sensei! Can I talk to you?" Naruto struggled to catch up to his Sensei before the man disappeared in a swirl of leaves. That was pretty cool though. He wished his Sensei would just teach him something cool already!

Genii-Nee was helping him heaps, learning all these new things but he really wanted to learn cool Jutsu and apparently Nee-Chan couldn't use chakra at all! She didn't even have any, she told him.

"What is it, my stab happy student?" Sensei asked him paused to look down at him. Naruto started to laugh uncomfortably, and rubbed the back of his neck. Nee-Chan seemed so sure this would work, but Naruto wasn't so sure. His Sensei couldn't love his yucky book that much. Could he?

"I want to offer you a deal," Naruto attempted to say with a serious tone to his voice. He felt like it failed, but continued on either way. He nodded his head, trying to be very serious when Kakashi' Sensei raised one of his old man eyebrows. How old was Sensei anyway? Like 50?

"Oh?" The man responded a measure of amusement in his voice. "I'm all ears Naruto?"

Naruto had a great idea from a new prank! He could glue ears onto people! Then they'd actually be all ears! Momentarily distracted from his current pursuit, Naruto cackled at the idea. It was perfect! He'd have to ask for Nee-Chan's help with his new project! Bahahahaha! "…Naruto?"

"Oh yeah, you," Naruto shook his head attempting to come back to himself. "I want you to teach me how to use my chakra properly."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I think – um," what had Genii called it? "Chakra control? And if you do, I promise not to stab your perverted book again."

Kakashi's eye narrowed at the blonde and he felt really uneasy. Kakashi-Sensei seemed really scary at that moment! Then he smiled, and Naruto deflated. "My student is now bribing me with good behaviour," he looked to the sky for a moment, and shook his head. "How did this happen?"

Naruto shrugged. "You wouldn't teach me?"

"You remind me of someone," Kakashi said, looking at the boy thoughtfully. Naruto was starting to feel awkward again as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Deal," he snapped his book shut. "Let's start now. The first step to chakra control is learning how to climb trees."

"…I know how to climb trees," Naruto dead panned. "I'm not stupid!"

"Without using your hands?" The man quarried. "Watch," he commanded as he placed on of his feet on the base of the tree surrounding the training ground, and he walked up the tree with no hands! Like he was walking on the ground! That was so cool!

"How did ya do that!?" Naruto asked excitedly, hardly able to contain the excitement he felt. That was so cool! Genii-Nee-Chan was right! Aha! His Sensei would be easy to bribe!

"You channel your chakra to the bottom of your feet. Too much and the tree will explode and too little and you'll fall. Go on, try it."

Naruto bobbed his tanned head up and down, before taking a running start at the tree, channelling his chakra to his feet. He managed to run a little of the way before the bark exploded underneath his feet. Naruto fell down to the ground with a painful thump.

Ouch!

Naruto rubbed his sore back, looking at the amount of missing bark that the tree had been stripped of. "You used too much chakra. This exercise is meant to show you how much chakra you need to use at any given point. If you overfill a Jutsu with too much chakra, then it would explode like the tree. Too little and it would just fail."

Naruto nodded his head and determination, he got up to try again. This time he used a little less, and he ran for the tree. He didn't even get as far up as he did as the last time before he began to slip down again.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sensei sitting down where he normally did for team training, pulled out his book and began reading from where he left off. Naruto shrugged, he didn't care now that his Sensei was training him. And properly to boot!

His Genii-Chan was always right!


	4. Chapter 4

**Ain't Never Had A Friend Like Me**

_**I wanted to start the chapter by thanking all of you. The response to the last chapter was like – omfg, wow. I don't think I've ever had so much interest in a story, it's kind of scary actually. I don't want to do something terrible. I want to thank you all for responding to what I've done, especially for those of you who point out my spelling and grammatical mistakes. I hope you all enjoy what is to come!**_

* * *

**Draco Malfoy POV**

**Hermione Grangers Apartment**

* * *

If Draco Malfoy was any less of the trained pure-blooded heir that he was, then he would be tugging the ends of his hair in frustration. As it were, a thing like that would severely diminish his reputation that he worked so hard to uphold and to do so with his present company could lead to disastrous consequences.

At least this is what he told himself. Being holed up in the apartment of a muggleborn creature rights activist, her boyfriend that ran a joke shop and his quidditch star younger sister, seemed to be an unreal combination. He wondered what he would be in this scenario. The Ex-Death eater trying desperately to make amends?

If only life could ever be so simple. Draco knew fully well that he owed Willow Potter a debt of gratitude. She'd kept him out of prison and any charges that might have been laid against him were gone. His family honour was saved. All by that little wisp of a girl. He owed the Potter heir at least as much help as he could manage – even if he honestly believed that his help wasn't necessary.

"So Malfoy, how have you faired?" The Granger asked him, a guarded look crossing over her face, as she twisted her feet around the other. She didn't really need to be so worried in his presence, but he could hardly fault her. He did have a tendency to insult her, and the family of the other two.

Bringing up the younger Weasley… "What is she doing here? I thought this was going to be between us three?" Draco drawled voicing a major concern of his. He wouldn't let them know he was concerned about the youngest Weasel knowing of course. He was most mostly miffed anyway.

"I'm more worried about Will's well being than _you _are," the young ginger bit out, throwing a fiery glare his way. If he wasn't so well trained, he might have actually taken a step back. "I thought something was up when Will didn't come back after all. She _always_ says goodbye."

Draco looked between the three people cramped into the small room, which was decorated by pillars upon pillars of books. Seriously, Granger needed to realise that books were not decorative ordainments. Malfoy felt his lip curl slightly, before he forced himself to stop. "Are you three so certain that Potter isn't dead only because she didn't tell you goodbye before she went and got herself in-between a turf war?"

"Yes," The older Weasel brother said, a solid look of faith written on his features. Draco recoiled, how could he have such a look on his face after everything had happened? "Unlike you, we have faith in Will."

"Where there's a Will, there's a way," the youngest ginger muttered so quietly, that he wasn't exactly sure he was meant to hear it. Draco had to force himself not to snicker at the backhanded comment. He was sure it would've been something that Potter would have claimed personally.

Granger grabbed the hand of Weasley, giving him a reassuring stare. Hm, it wasn't like the Weasel was getting very angry. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "If Will had thought her life was in danger, she could have left us a sort of message. She's always done that."

"Oh yes, because Potter just waltzes into situations that would kill her."

"She has, actually," The female Weasley snapped, her brown eyes narrowing at his again. "You've forgotten your Master so readily?"

"Ginny!" Granger admonished. Draco flinched away from her words. They'd rung true in his mind, and it reminded him once again why he was helping them. He owed Willow Potter, and he fully intended to fill the debt he owed.

"Getting into the Ministry isn't the hard part. Using my abilities, politics is extremely easy for me," Draco confessed, deciding it was best to ignore the previous conversation that they just had. All those years in Slytherin sought to him being politics-ready. "There's nothing though. Just the official story. Potter got caught in a turf war."

"That's it?" Weasel complained. "I told you we didn't need him, Hermione…"

"Although," Draco continued a little bit louder, glaring at the ginger. "There were some discrepancies that I picked up. Potter was seen entering his office about a year ago, but never leaving. The rest left, never her. It was the cause for much gossip before the Minister shut it down."

"So," Weasel said with a raised eyebrow. "She could have just apparated out."

"Or used floo," his sister chimed in, nodding.

This time it was Granger to respond before he could. She shook her head, her coiled strands of hair hitting each side of her face as it moved. "No, you can't use any methods of travel like floo, or apparation anywhere in the Ministry that isn't the Lobby. You have to use the door. They've got wards similar to the ones in Hogwarts."

"Didn't we apparate out, you know, when we broke in?" Weasel asked confused. Wait… that had actually happened? Draco had thought that it was just another tail to keep those at Hogwarts and of the resistance fighting strong. The thought of the Saviour fighting things, and breaking in places was a strong motivator. Granted, it had only served to make him feel anxious back when he was under The Dark Lord.

"We were in the Lobby Ron," Granger reminded him, rolling her eyes like this should have been obvious. The only blonde in the room felt it should have been – how could Weasel forget a detail such as this one?

The boy just nodded his head. Oh dear Merlin, how did this idiot manage to co-run a successful business? It must have all been in his older brother. Draco had felt that Weasley's brother wouldn't have the seriousness to run a business, but if this was his help…

"I tried to find the guards that were in the room with them, question them a bit. But they'd both died. The curious thing is that their deaths were together in a mission, about a month ago," Draco revealed carefully. To his shock the youngest Weasley was the most vocal about this news.

She screamed a bit before she turned around and kicked one of the stack of books down, they all fell with a sickening thump. Granger seriously couldn't have read all of those massive tomes, it couldn't be healthy to read that much. "That-that prick!"

"Calm down Ginny," Granger attempted to be soothing, but was evidently failing. The red head had a temper that could rival a volcano. Explosive. "It's going to end up working out. It always does."

"This isn't a fairy tale Hermione! The Minister has gotten rid of Willow and then he got rid of all the witnesses!" She cried.

"Actually," Draco interrupted. "One year ago, the Department of Mysteries have document an object going missing." The blonde pulled out a grumbled sheet of parchment out of his crisp jacket, unfolded it, before passing it over to Granger.

Her brown eyebrow rose the second she got a glimpse of the image that was displayed on the parchment. Weasel leaned over to get a look at the object, whilst younger Weasel stood there – attempting to calm down. "A lamp?" Granger asked slowly. "There was a _lamp_ missing?"

"What does a lamp have to do with Willow?" Weasel asked, hesitating slightly. "It can't be a normal lamp."

"No," Draco shook his head, feeling tense. His first intelligent comment all night. "From what I found out, it has the ability to bind a person into its depths. It takes a considerable amount of power to achieve, but once you're trapped in the lamp. You can't get out."

"_Ever_?" the youngest Weasley asked, her face stricken.

Draco frowned. "She can only be let out by someone who has a pure heart, and pure intentions. If they bore ill will to others, then nothing would happen and Potter would be stuck in the Lamp."

The three Gryffindors looked at each other, worry etched on their faces. He hadn't even gotten to the terrible part. "If released from the lamp, she is then bound to the person that set her out."

"What do you mean by 'bound'?" Granger asked nervously.

Draco abhorred people who would shrug their shoulders, although at this moment he wished he could. "I… didn't get to that part. Just that she will be bound to the person who sets her free."

"What did you just conveniently just not get that part!?"

Draco scowled. "I was almost caught you imbecilic. No one messes with the Department of Mysteries and lives to talk about it later. I will go back," he vowed. He hesitated slightly. "I have an idea, that it might… give the person who set her free a sort of power over her usage of magic."

"Like she was hit with an imperious curse?" Weasel asked, his eyes narrowed. He almost looked like he was taking this seriously.

Draco made no movement. He wished his father had allowed 'shrugging shoulders' when he underwent all those etiquette classes. "Binding could mean anything. It is my opinion that she would be bound by the desire of the person who released her."

"Calm dawn," Granger said sharply. For once, he wasn't really sure who she was talking to. "He said it was his opinion. We don't know this for sure."

Draco nodded. "I will go back and see if they have any more information on the object."

"We still need to find the lamp, if that's really what happened," Granger nodded towards him, accepting his words. "It… looks sort of Arabic in origan, perhaps once you've found out more about the lamp, we can go check the magical community in that area out."

Draco snorted, thinking back to all the times his father had spoken of that place. He hadn't spoken fondly of it – except for one part, which he didn't think Granger would accept readily. "Speak for yourself Granger. They don't take very kindly to …muggleborns. They make the Dark Lord look loving."

Granger shrugged her shoulders. "I won't be going. You and Ginny will. You can pose as a couple."

"No! My sister won't be seem with… him," he sneered in Draco's direction. Draco rolled his eyes for real this time. This was going to be a long night. Then it occurred to him what Granger had just said. He was not going to be even claiming for a moment that he was in any sort of relationship with a Weasley!

He had a reputation!

* * *

**Naruto POV**

**Training Ground 7**

* * *

"Hey, hey, do ya know why we have training ground seven? Why not three!?" Naruto asked, lying on his back and looking up at the sky as the sun was slowly coming awake. He'd have to ask Nee-Chan where the sun went when it was sleeping, and how did the sun manage to wake up at the same time every day? Even he forgot sometimes!

"We're Team Seven, Idiot," the dark haired boy that sat next to him with his arms crossed grumbled. His eye was twitching. Sasuke's eye always twitched though. Naruto figured he just wasn't really patient with waiting for Sensei. The blonde didn't really mind anymore because he always had a way to get more training out of his Sensei if he needed it.

The art of blackmail. Genie-Chan was right! Kakashi-Sensei was soooo easy to blackmail, and bribe! And oh well! He was getting great training! Plus, he got more time to sleep before Sensei came. Genie-Nee always woke him up sooo early! "Yeah, well, it doesn't mean we need to be number seven!" Naruto defended heatedly.

"…I prefer the number eight," Hinata whispered so quietly that Naruto almost didn't hear her properly.

Naruto beamed at the shy girl. "Yes! See, bastard? Hinata-Chan agrees with me! It's time for a change!"

"Training ground eight is being used by _Team Eight,"_ Sasuke responded, rolling his eyes at the blonde. Naruto huffed.

In a puff of smoke, their Sensei appeared in front of them, precariously leaning on the rail of the bridge like he'd been there the entire time. "Yo! Sorry I'm late, but I was busy being bribed by a pretty girl."

"Really!? Is that the best you can come up with!?" Naruto shouted, pointing his finger at his Sensei accusingly.

"Yes," Kakashi-Sensei responded, the honesty in his voice made Naruto blink at him stupidly for a few moments. "Now that we're back to ignoring the class idiot ("Hey!") let's get started with today. Who wants to do some D-Ranks?"

"No! And I'm not an idiot!" Naruto said crossing him arms across his chest in a 'keep out' sign. "I want to do something cool!"

"I agree," Sasuke said finally speaking up. "D-Ranks are blow m-_our_ level of skill."

"Hinata-Chan?" Kakashi-Sensei said turning the only girl in the group who blushed a shade of pink. Why didn't people blush orange? Why did they blush pink? Naruto's eyebrows farrowed, it was yet another question to ask the Genie!

"I-I wouldn't mind something a bit more interesting…."

Sensei raised his hand up to his chin before he began rubbing it. Sensei was considering it! Yes! Next they'd be rescuing Princesses and fighting the bad guys! Finally he dropped the hand and smiled with his eye – it was sooo creepy when he did that! "The answer is: No. You guys suck."

"I do not suck!" Naruto complained loudly, throwing his fist out into the air. He hoped he looked threatening enough so Sensei would be forced to give him a mission! Ha!

"Yes you do," Kakashi-Sensei responded airily. "I've seen chipmunks with more skills than you three."

Hinata's shoulders feel forward, Naruto thought that she looked really upset. "Why don't you actually train us then?" Sasuke snapped. "No more picking apples for mindless civilians."

"You wouldn't be able to handle it!" Kakashi laughed as he clapped his hands together. "Off that topic, there's a cat…"

* * *

Willow POV

Naruto's Apartment

* * *

"He said that we wouldn't be able to handle it, and I can so handle it, what does Sensei think that we don't have. I mean Sasuke's a prick but what about me!?" Naruto huffed, punching the dough that he'd just made a few moments previously.

Willow raised an eyebrow at the boy who was doing his best to abuse the bread she was attempting to teach him how to make. "Hey, the bread hasn't done anything to you," Willow chided gently.

Naruto let go of the dough with a slightly sheepish look on his face. "Sorry Nee-Chan. But why am I stuck doing all these boring missions when I should be doing cool things, which a Hokage-To-Be like myself should be!"

"You have to start from the bottom, Naruto. You can't build an empire in a day."

"Whaaaaat?" the blonde boy's expression twisted into something akin to confusion. He blinked at the red haired girl for a few moments, almost pleading her to make sense of what she had just told him.

"Think about it, do you think the First Hokage managed to build Konoha all in _one_ day?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, and a small smirk. The green-eyed witch watched as the kid started to shake his head slowly. "No. Right. Then can you expect to be given the best missions right away? Don't you have to have more experience?"

"But I'm not even getting any experience!" Naruto stuck out his lower lip, rather cutely, might she add. "All I do is catch run-away cats and get old people their groceries!"

"Isn't that experience?"

Naruto shook his head wildly. "No way!"

"Oh," Willow nodded her head. Thinking about what he said for a moment, trying to figure out the easiest way to explain what she was thinking of to the kid. "Well, you had to find and catch the cat right?"

Naruto nodded his head sourly.

"So you had to track it?" Another head nod. "There's that tracking experience," Willow winked at the wide-eyed boy. "Let's see… Shopping. You need to find every item on the list? Doesn't this help with finding and locating a previously lost item?"

Naruto's jaw dropped and Willow had to repress her urge to laugh, loudly. "What do you think your training for when you catch fish?" Willow quizzed.

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, and bit his lip. He looked like he was thinking very hard. "…cause' we need to be able to catch food when on a really long mission?" he asked hesitantly.

Willow beamed at the boy. "Exactly! Now, what do you think it would be testing if…."

* * *

**Naruto POV**

**The Numerous exploits of D-Rank**

* * *

Naruto was really excited to get D-ranks. He really had hated them before but Nee-Chan had made him so excited to do them. Who would've thought that they got all that training from doing them? Naruto really needed to put his all in these missions if they were so important to him being a kick-arse ninja!

The blonde couldn't really sit still waiting for his Sensei. He was pretty sure that he was annoying Sasuke, because the black-haired boy kept glaring at him every few moments. He didn't really care though – even if Sasuke was really that bad, he was still a stuck up bastard.

"Can you just sit still!?" Sasuke snapped, his dark onyx eyes glaring right through Naruto's soul. The blonde haired boy just shuddered and attempted to make his body movement less noticeable. Sasuke was pretty scary when he was glaring at him…

"Yo!" Sensei appeared out of thin air, suddenly crouched on the rail of the bridge across from the three Genin. Like every morning. "Sorry I'm late, but I had to battle a turtle to get here and well, the fight went _really _slowly."

"Are you kidding?" Naruto asked, his voice at a normal pitch for once. Naruto felt that Sasuke was now giving Sensei the evil eye that had been trained on him previously, and that had to be the reason for Kakashi-Sensei to rub the back of his head sheepishly.

"Anyway, whose ready for a D-Rank?" Sensei said with enthusiasm.

"Me!" Naruto pumped his fist in the air excitedly. "Finally! A D-Rank! It's been forever!"

"B-b-but… Naruto-Kun… We had a D-Rank yesterday…" Hinata muttered, but Naruto wasn't really sure exactly what it was that she had said.

"What did you say?" Naruto asked loudly, causing the short haired girl to stutter even more.

"Miss Hyuga is right, Naruto… are you feeling okay?" Kakashi-Sensei asked him, mild concern colouring his features. His only mammoth eye was trained onto Naruto. He lied when he said Sasuke's look was scary…. Sensei's was worse.

"You can't build an empire in a day, Sensei," Naruto rolled his eyes like this should have been obvious. Kakashi-Sensei blinked slowly, and then started to laugh. It was a slow chuckle at first but then it progressed into a louder, more uncontrollable laughter.

"What's so funny?" Naruto demanded, not even his Sensei was allowed to disregard one of Genie-Nee-Chan's beautiful pieces of advice! She was really smart!

"Oh nothing, nothing," Sensei said standing upright, all traces of humour gone from his form. "Well, since you're so eager to do a mission Naruto. Why don't you choose this one?"

Naruto pumped his fist, yes! Sensei was even letting him pick the next mission! This was so amazing! "Can we do a courtier mission!? They're the coolest!"

Kakashi shrugged his shoulders. "As it happens, I just conveniently grabbed one of those exact missions this morning! We have to deliver a bed frame to one Sato-San from Ginos."

"The place next to the Ramen Stand!?" Naruto crowed, his eyes wide and excited. Maybe when they were finished, or, or for breakfast, Sensei would let them have Ramen! Yes Ramen! Ramen was soooo cool! And Yummy!

"We're not getting Ramen Naruto. We have a mission, remember? The cool D-Rank mission?" Sensei reminded him rubbing his hand over the little bit of his skin that was left visible from his mask. Why did his Sensei even wear a mask?!

"Oh right. Yes! To training!"

"We have a mission… idiot, not training," Sasuke scowled at the blue-eyed boy, rolling his eyes as he stood up in preparation for leaving for their mission.

Naruto frowned at the black-haired boy. Why was Sasuke so mean!? He was so not cool! "What do ya think D-Ranks are meant for Bastard!?" Naruto crowed at the other boy, raising his fist in the air.

"Mindless, cheap labour?" Kakashi-Sensei added helpfully.

It was the Uzumaki's turn to roll his eyes at his teacher. Why was he so stupid? "Every mission is training for the next time we get a mission like that!" Naruto attempted to explain, not really knowing what it was that he was exactly saying. "And we can then get missions that are harder. Like we could be delivering something to Suna next!"

"Very astute Naruto," Kakashi said surprised. Hinata was looking at him strangely though. Almost like he was a hero or something. He wasn't too sure. Hinata was really confusing! "You've managed to grasp the idea more quickly than I thought any of you would."

"Does that mean we're going to get a C-Rank!?"

Kakashi-Sensei hummed and smiled. "Maybe one day soon."

Yes! This was so very cool! "But, we do have a mission to do right now! Let's get going, my cute little students~!"

"Here Hinata-Chan, I'll take that dog!" Naruto offered seeing the blue-haired girl struggle with the massive dog that she'd be logged with. Nee-Chan always told him to do his best to help people when he could!

"B-b-but… Naruto-Kun… I don't know i-i-if…." Hinata trailed off going slightly pink, but Naruto couldn't really hear anything else she was saying. Hinata really needed to start talking a little bit louder!

"What was that!?" Naruto asked, taking the lease from Hianta's hands. The dog was about as big as she was! It was really just nice that he would help Hinata-Chan out!

"You idiot, I think that Hinata has a better chance with the dog than you do."

"What are you trying to say, you-!?" Naruto began to yell at the Uchica before the dog that he had taken suddenly tugged on the lease and began to run. The thing was that the dog was so strong that he began to pull Naruto along with him. No! This wasn't how it was allowed to happen! Naruto was a kick arse Ninja and he could control the damn dog!

"Why was I stuck with the class idiot?" he could hear Sasuke ask, as he dug the heels of his feet into the ground in an attempt to halt his movement.

"I can hear you!" Naruto yelled, his eye twitching violently, turning to face Sasuke so he could yell at him properly. That, it turned out, was a bad move. The dog seemed to sense that his attention had been diverted from him and began to pull him towards the busy streets of Konoha.

"S-s-shouldn't we help him?" Hinata looked at Sasuke hesitantly.

Sasuke simply shook his head. "The idiot had it coming to him."

Naruto's yells of 'Stop!' could be heard from miles away.

* * *

**Willow POV**

**Konoha's Streets**

* * *

Willow was more than used to spending her days coped up inside a tiny space, with only reading books for company. She had been used to it when she was on the run from Voldemort but that didn't mean she particularly liked it. So when she had the chance, she liked to go walking in the streets of this country.

She learned so much from simply observing the culture. She also went into book stores and got food for the blonde kid she was taking care of – and it kept her slightly happy. She also realised that there wasn't a single sign of a magical community anywhere.

Either it was really well hidden, or it just wasn't there. It made her slightly annoyed, but she understood. She just wanted a way to get home and it was frustrating to think that there was no way for her to get home… at all. How annoying.

Willow shook her head from her pessimistic thoughts and continued on her trek through the early morning hustle of the streets. Till she was stopped by an abnormal crowd… Willow used her small structure to her advantage and weaselled her way through the crowd so that she could see the latest entertainment on the streets.

Willow raised an eyebrow when she got to the front, because she wasn't actually very sure of what to make of what she was witnessing. Gai seemed to have Kakashi in some sort of neck hold, and was holding him on the floor, clearly waiting for the other man to yield… Were they wrestling!?

Shouldn't Kakashi be teaching his team? Naruto had left to meet his team over two hours ago, and peering around the crowd, Willow could see Gai's team standing slightly behind him but no Naruto. Speaking of the bowl-cut man's team, they looked almost over the display, almost as if it was a daily experience.

The kid that looked almost the same as he did… What was his name again? Lee? Didn't though. He seemed so excited, screaming cheers for his teacher. Willow didn't realise that Ninja were all insane. She thought it was just all those that were magical to inherit insanity, guess she was wrong. Willow rolled her eyes, glaring at the guy standing next to her who elbowed her shoulder. Why was he so freakishly tall!?

"Ah!" Gai called out. "I see my lovely youthful flower in the crowd, today I will surpass you with 32 wins to your 31 Kakashi! How can I lose when I have such a youthful beauty watching me~!" The man cried happily. She wasn't kidding. She swore that there were actual tears streaming down his face as he smiled.

Willow was sure he couldn't mean her… could he? Her green-eyes flickered towards his students again who had all locked their eyes onto her. Right. So he did mean her. Could she just leave and never come back? This was embarrassing. And it was she got for wanting to leave Naruto's small apartment.

"Ah fine, I'll let you win," came the muffled reply of the silver-haired ninja. The crowd around her groaned with disappointment and began to disperse and go on with their daily lives. Willow would have gone with them and disappeared – she could of, but she didn't.

Curse the morbid amusement she got from these sort of interactions! One day she'd admit to being curious about how this was going to pan out for her. "Youthful flower!" before she realised it, Gai was bowing in front of her, her hand held in his own as he placed a kiss on the surface of the skin. Willow blinked slowly, it not really computing with what was happening… Was he kissing her hand?

"I hope your cats' school reunion went well," he said with up most sincerity, which made Willow raise one of her thin eyebrows. Did he honestly think that she was being serious when she claimed that? Well, technically she was a cat. A ginger cat, with curiously green eyes… "Is it the time I learn your name, flower?"

Willow gaped, looking over his shoulder as his students approached slowly. Lee – the mini-me, had hearts in his eyes. Like he was worshipping everything his teacher was doing. They had to be related… the resemblance was uncanny. Diverting her eyes, she saw Kakashi dusted himself off as he stood up, mild amusement in his expression as they locked eyes.

"That would be telling," Willow said. "You can just refer to me as 'flower'," she allowed, not partially feeling like handing out her name. The name Willow seemed so out of place against the sound of other names here, and she wasn't 'going to introduce herself as a Genie, for Merlin's sake. She would not be referred to as Genie for the rest of her time here. It just wasn't happening.

"Of course, my flower! Will you do the honour of going out on a date with me?!"

Well, he certainly never gave up, did he? Willow had no idea how to turn the man down this time… "Gai, remember, you have to earn a Ladies affections first," Kakashi interjected, casually waltzing up to the pair. Was it only Willow, or did Gai notice the cheeky gleam in his eyes?

Kakashi is messing with you Gai! Willow wanted to warn him. She really shouldn't have bribed him twice, it appeared he was getting a form of payback. Willow wanted to hit her head, this is why she wasn't a Slytherin – she never thought of what someone would do afterwards.

Calm down Potter, she reminded herself. It wasn't like this would be a bad thing. She didn't think.

"Of course! What would you like my flower, five hundred bouquets of roses!? A sonnet? I will declare your youthfulness over the Hokage monument!" he cried, listing off the numerous things he would do to achieve her affections.

Willow shot a horrified look at Kakashi. What had he done!? Willow was terrified thinking about Naruto's apartment covered in roses… She didn't even _like _roses. Or flowers. She didn't mind lilies, but only because they reminded her of her mother. She dislike flowers! After second year when there were those singing dwarves that delivered her that horrifying poem in front of everyone else – Willow felt she prefer to die before anything like that would happen!

"Y-you don't need to do that, it's not necessary!" Willow cried, only to be ignored by the man who was listing off even more preposterous things to do, one of which included a diamond tiara. She didn't even wear jewellery! "H-hey!"

That silver haired bastard was laughing silently, watching her growing melt-down. Think, she forced herself, try and turn it into your favour… She had no idea how to do that!? God damn Merlin! No wonder Naruto disliked his teacher, the man was a sadist! Wait! Teacher… that's it!

"Actually, there is one thing you could do…" Willow trailed off slowly, and these seemed to be the words he needed to hear to shut up. Willow only felt slightly guilty as she made her next request. It wouldn't really be using him. It would be this or an apartment covered in roses, she reasoned. "My little brother needs some extra training and well, you seem really strong…"

"You've got to be kidding me," she heard Kakashi mutter, all previous amusement had left his face. Yes, she thought viciously. She could turn anything into an opportunity for Naruto.

"Ah, so you noticed our fight did you?" the man asked her, his teeth gleaming in his smile, giving her a thumbs up. "Did you notice my decidedly good looking masculine features, as well?"

Willow chose to ignore his last comment. "It was quite intense."

"Then young flowers younger brother shall be joining our early morning work-outs, Lee!"

"Yes!" Lee cried with an unparalleled happiness. "A sparring partner!"

Willow really felt guilty for what she was subjecting her adorable little brother too… It was sure to help him with some sort of aspect of his Ninja training if he was getting education from another source. "Tell him to meet me at training ground nine at 3AM! I will win your affections by making your brother the most youthful ninja ever!"

Oh dear… What will happen to the blonde kid under this sort of influence? She shuddered at the thought, but reminded herself, it was for Naruto's betterment. "And to prove that I am a wonderful teacher for your brother, my flower. My team and I will run 500 laps around Konoha! Right now! Let's go team!" Gai yelled so loudly that Willow winced, before he and his team (quite reluctantly) ran away at speeds too fast for her eyes.

Willow turned to the only one left behind with narrowed eyes. "That was cruel."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Kakashi said airily.

"Setting me up like that," she said accusingly. "You would have known that was the way he was going to act."

The man shrugged his shoulders, the 'it was payback' went unsaid. She got the point of what the man was thinking without him voicing any of his words out loud. "You have a talent," he said finally, and she could see wrinkles in his mask moving to indicate that he was smiling. "You can turn everything into an opportunity. But, I feel sorry for your brother."

"Why?" Willow asked with a raised eyebrow, trying not to let the backhanded comment get to her in any form. Her gaze started to wonder from the person she was talking to, where did the massive crowed that was just here disperse to?

"He's actually going to do 500 laps you realise," the silver haired ninja warned. "Gai is serious about every word he says. Your brother will be 'youthful'."

Willow snorted, her eyes cutting back to the man who was excluding an aura of glee with the idea that her plan might have backfired on her. He really was a sadist. "He's twelve. If he wasn't already too youthful and extravagant, then I would be worried."

The Hatake merely raised one of his eyebrows at her. "Did you not see the student that he turned into a miniature clone of himself? Twelve is the most impressionable age."

Willow smiled widely, turning around and started to walk away. "Then I fear for your 'cute little students' do you want to turn them into perverts?" she called backwards, to be greeted by what she assumed was a rare flash of surprise.

"You read the book?" He honestly sounded shocked that it had happened. What can she say, she was bloody _bored. _The book he read was a mixture of uncomfortable sounding porn and cheesy romance with little to no plot. But there were a shocking amount of funny quips mixed in, and Willow could understand the kind of humour it was aiming for.

"Of course!" she called back, not even glancing behind her. She really needed to stop getting herself into these situations… But Merlin damn it, why was it always so amusing to mess with ninja? Civilians, she realised, were kind of dull in comparison. Willow assumed it was because they hadn't seen as much as she had. Maybe she just related to them on some type of level.

* * *

**Hokage's Office**

**Third-Person**

* * *

"Get out."

"But,-" the Chunin level ninja stuttered out going slightly red at his leaders cold look. It wasn't his fault that he had drawn the shortest straw! Damn the rest of the team that was comprised mostly of advanced Jonin. Why couldn't one of those people come in and hopefully dampen the Hokage's wraith?

"Let me guess. Books went missing from the library?" The Hokage was done with this. Let the thief take whatever they wanted. They only seemed to steal things of general knowledge. Let them get away with it. He'd already expended way too much over the whole process.

"Library?" The confused Chunin asked. Why the hell would he be here to tell the Hokage if a _book _went missing from a library of all things? Maybe he should have just gotten out whilst he still could…

"Explain," the Hokage demanded, a little bit more worried by the Chunin's confusion.

"Um, Uzumaki Naruto's guard team?" The Chunin asked hesitantly, like he was unsure. Of course, he had to be one of the few ninja that got the periodic assignment to take care of Konoha's resident Junjuriki.

The Hokage sat up just that little bit straighter. "Tell me everything. Was there a women that seemed to be around Naruto for any prolonged amounts of time?"

The nervous ninja nodded his head. "Yes, Hokage-Sama. A young lady around the age of eighteen, with shoulder length, curly red hair. She appears to be correcting his more basic form of the three main areas of focus. She also seems to be teaching how to cook."

"And?" The Hokage demanded.

"Well, the kid really doesn't have that much of a hand for it. Cooking that-,"

"I didn't mean Naruto's cutlery kills," the Hokage cut the man off mid-speech. Really, did he assign a man so distracted to keeping Naruto safe? "What else have you noticed about the woman?"

"Oh," the man said nervously. "Not much else, Sir. She was rarely seen leaving Uzumaki's place of residence, we are lead to believe that she stays there with Uzumaki. We don't hear much of what they are saying, but they do appear close."

"Have you kept any tabs on who this person converses with, for more information?"

He nodded his head again. Now this was where things got a bit trickier. "Aside from the normal shopkeepers and waitresses, there were two people who stood out amongst the most. Hatake Kakashi and Might Gai."

The Hokage's eye twitched. Hadn't Kakashi just told him that he still hadn't meet the woman!? Damn that lazy man! The Chunnin on the other hand wasn't looking forward to explaining about what appeared to be blackmail and 'youthful dates'.

* * *

**Willow POV**

**Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

Willow would never understand how Naruto's little apartment got so messy, really, she made him clean it so often – she didn't understand how all that dust and grime managed to get stuck everywhere. It made no sense, what-so-ever. Alas, she was bored. Naruto was meant to get home quite a while ago but he hadn't.

He'd obviously get there in a little bit, but that didn't make her any less bored. She had taken to practising wandless magic whilst she was here, and bored. She couldn't allow the chance that her wand might get broken and without the chance to get a new one… Well, it couldn't be allowed to happen. She'd hide her wand – on her person, thank you very much – but wouldn't draw it out unless necessary.

Back to her point, practising wandless magic to clean the blonde brats apartment wasn't something she was overly fond of doing. Where the hell was that kid-?! Willow's thoughts came to an abrupt halt when she heard the door slamming shut. Willow looked up from her uncomfortable position to see a heavily bruised blonde boy sulking into the room, and dropping himself into the chair.

"…Do I want to know what happened?"

Blue eyes met her with a chilling stare that send shivers down her spine. "The cat," was the only words he muttered under his breath before he rested his whiskered cheeks on the desk in front of him.

The redhead attempted to poorly rein in a sigh. Why was it always that damned cat? Seriously, why did the same cat seem to disappear from its owner on a periodic basis? Honestly, it wasn't at all possible for a cat to run away that many times in a week. Not possible. "Well, I managed to get you that sparring partner that you wanted. I can't vouch for sanity, but there's a teacher swung in there too."

"Really?!" Naruto's head shot up, the brief amounts of despair that he held completely vanishing at the idea of more training. "Not that you aren't a good teacher Nee-Chan, but a real ninja teacher would be soo cool!"

Willow nodded her head understandingly. "It's okay, tomorrow before your team training. Sound good? It means waking up earlier though. Get over here."

Naruto nodded his head and bound his way over to the older woman. Willow pulled him down so she could reach the bruises and scratches and put some disinfectant on it. Seriously, how the boy hadn't gotten some sort of infection before now was outstanding. The Witch's fingers pushed on a rather nasty looking bruise on Naruto's cheek. "How did you manage to do so much damage?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "The cat's evil."

Willow rolled her eyes fondly, moving to grab the said disinfectant from the bench beside the stove and walking back quickly. "Any more entertaining stories for me today?" she called back to him, attempting to keep the kid in the same space. Attention span of a goldfish, that kid. "Like that one time with the dog?"

It amused her hearing that one, honestly. She sat back down next to the kid, opening the bottle slowly, straining her ears so she could hear the boy if he attempted to mumble his way through the newest story. "I accidentally pulled out this old lady's bulbs. I thought they were all weeds, isn't there much of a difference?"

"There's a big difference actually. One's a pretty plant, and one's a nasty weed," she answered the unasked question, dabbing the liquid on a small cut on his face. The same cut that practically disappeared the second she treated it.

With a raised eyebrow she turned her attention to the nasty bruise that was on his cheek, only to see that it was already turning yellow – like it was days old. Willow knew magic was capable of heaps, but Naruto had no magic. The amount of injuries that she heard about – and seen with her own eyes attested to the fact that there was no crazy healing guru here.

Why was he healing so quickly? "They all look the same to me," Naruto sounded very moody indeed.

This was in interesting development. What was up with Naruto's crazy healing rate?

* * *

**Naruto POV**

**Training Field Nine**

* * *

Naruto was not a happy genin. He had woken up three hours before he normally did, and he hadn't gotten to sleep any earlier. He was a growing boy… he needed lots of sleep! And Nee-Chan wouldn't even let him have Ramen for breakfast! She had been claiming he'd need energy!

Bah! It wasn't like this new teacher could be any better than Kakahsi-Sensei.

"Aha! See, Lee! Our new sparring partner seems very youthful indeed!" A loud voice shouted as Naruto entered the empty (or so he thought) training field. What he saw made him stumble a little bit. What the hell was this!? What had Nee-Chan gotten him into!?

How big were those eyebrows!? They were like caterpillars!

"Right, Gai-Sensei!" his student yelled back. No! Naruto stopped dead in his spot. That guys eyebrows were just as bad as his Sensei! They had to be related, Naruto reasoned. It was too much of a creepy likeness!

Why were they so big!? Those damned eyebrows! "Hello, flowers younger brother! It is an honour to train you so that I can win the approval of your older sister!" Caterpillar-Eyebrows cheered. What was he on about?

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto said back, a bit quitter than he usually would make the introduction. "Why are you calling Genie-Nee-Chan, 'flower'?" he asked quite suspiciously.

Eyebrows'-Sensei fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face as he let out huge sobs. Naruto felt the need to flee – which he really had never felt was necessary any other time previously. "Such a youthful name for the young lady. She hasn't yet given me her name but I un-youthfully have it now?! What do I do!?"

What? Just… what?

"Gai-Sensei!" Bushy-Brows yelled throwing himself at the older man, tears also streaming down his face. Naruto took a cautious step backwards, wondering if Nee-Chan would let him back into their apartment, or if he'd be forced to go to team training early instead. Naruto shook violently. He was not going to wait six hours for Sensei to turn up!

"Lee!"

"Gai-Sensei!"

No, no, no, no! He was not seeing this. He wasn't sure exactly what was happening, but it involved a sunset, sparkles, and... and… he was never going to be the same again. Naruto rubbed his eyes and looked again. He wasn't crazy… he wasn't crazy…

"Aright," Brows-Sensei straightened up, with a gleaming smile of scarily white teeth. "As punishment and a warm up… We will run 600 laps around Konoha… On our hands… backwards!" he declared fire lighting up his eyes as he made the degree.

"But…" Naruto said weakly, then decided against it. The guy might be crazy but Nee-Chan said he would teach him how to be a kick arse ninja then… 600 laps it was!

"Ready? Set? Go!" Brows-Sensei called, doing a flip and ending up on his hands. This was going to be insane!

* * *

**Hokage's Office**

**Hatake Kakashi POV**

* * *

"I see you managed to make it, only seven hours late this time," The Hokage's eye was already twitching. This indicated to Kakashi that he should start running. Right now. If he wanted to survive with minimal damage that was. "_Progress_."

Sarcasm wasn't something the dog summoner ever wanted to hear from the Hokage. It meant the man was pissed. When he was at those anger levels, Kakashi just tended to avoid the situation completely. He didn't turn up for any reports for a month after he accidentally left his ANBU member in tea country… Under the order to not leave unless he gave express permission…

The avoidance tactic worked well for him. It seemed he wasn't going anywhere this time. Feeling resigned, he attempted for some light hearted banter. "You summoned me, Hokage-Sama?"

No one ever said he was good at this whole 'reading emotion' thing. "Several hours ago," the Hokage pointed out, sighing. Kakashi smiled in an attempt to ease the Hokage's annoyance with him. Almost belatedly, he remembered he was wearing a mask. "Tell me about the red-haired woman you were seen buying Kunai for."

It wasn't a question, it was an order. "I realise buying weaponry for civilians is illegal, sir. They weren't for her. For her younger brother." He didn't know why he felt the urge to protect himself, when there had been no real accusations made against him.

He knew that this couldn't be the real reason he was here. There were so many times were he had flaunted the rules so boldly, and buying a civilian kunai didn't even rank in the top ten. "Do you know her name?" the man pressed folding his hands on the table.

Kakashi's back straightened slightly and he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. Oh damn it. "…Not really."

"Not really?" The Hokage asked him, a wrinkled brow rising on his face and Kakashi felt his urge to run away from the situation rising within him. He attempted to squish the feeling but, he couldn't hide his lone eye flickering to the door and calculating the time it would take him to get to safety.

"I haven't a clue," he attempted to sound easy-going but on the inside his mind was spinning. An unknown woman that the Hokage was obviously interested in. The woman was a strange one too, she didn't have the slightest amount of fear being around a group of trained killers, and that ranked as slightly odd to him.

"Let's think…" Was the Hokage patronising him? "I remember a report you gave me about a month ago, now let's see. What were you mentioning in that report? I can't remember. I'm pretty sure it had something to do with that student of yours. Naruto, Maybe?"

It all hit him at once. The Hokage's sarcasm wasn't really helping matters, but the first thing he could think of was his student was being taught by Gai. Oh Kami. If the kid wasn't insane enough as it was! If he started sprouting off about youth than he was going to leave the country. Consequences be damned. He was not having a mini-Gai on his team. No. This wasn't happening!

"I see you've made some connections here, _good job_."

"The sarcasm isn't necessary, sir."

"Oh I think it is, now. I want the report right here. Right now. No excuses."

It was really a pity, because Kakashi had already thought up about thirteen different excuses that he could use to get out of this situation already. He was starting to favour the faking of his death. He was too old to handle this. Really. If he did fake his death though, he wouldn't have to deal with his Genin team. It was already sounding by far, to being the best option he had.

"Okay then," Kakashi rubbed the back of his head, trying to convince himself that he didn't want to have to pay for a new window – if he were to jump through it. It would be expensive. "She has a shrewd mind. Capable of twisting things to her advantage. Very personable and appears to have a very resilient mind frame. She has mentioned someone who I believe now to be Naruto. She appears to care for him as if he was her younger sibling to a … very high degree."

"Could she be using him for her own purposes?" The Hokage demanded. Kakashi blinked. Well, she had secured weapons and more training for the kid. That could be construed as wanting him to do her bidding. With Naruto being as valuable as he was – he wouldn't blame her. He felt that it went more than that.

He phrased the next part of his response carefully. "She appears to care for Naruto. Going out of her way to teach Naruto how to function in society."

"How did you gather that?"

"She taught him how to blackmail people," Kakashi grumbled, thinking back to all the damaged books. He couldn't believe his oddly unique student had actually masterfully damaged his books to secure more out of him.

He'd been completely fooled by it too. Kakashi resisted the urge to smile. He could count the amount of people who had managed to best him like that on one hand. This could prove to be interesting.

"I see," the Hokage muttered.

"I guess we wait and see what happens then," Kakashi said, a more questioning statement that he would have preferred.

The Hokage nodded his head slowly, and Kakashi was out of there faster than Naruto could eat a bowl of Ramen. Seriously. That was tough. He was going to have to avoid the Hokage's tower for a while after that. He guessed he could focus on his little brat's training.

If Naruto was being trained by Gai then he was going to have to up the training, he realised. He needed to ensure the kid didn't go off onto tangents of 'youthfulness'. While he was at it, he may as well get Hinata some confidence in herself and knock Sasuke down a few pegs. The boy was more arrogant than he was. That said something, for sure.

Kakashi shrugged, his mind made up as he disappeared in a puff of smoke only to reappear in his apartment. The brats were about to get a training boot camp that they weren't ever going to expect. Why? Because he didn't want to face the Hokage to get another D-Rank.

He really did need to get over his slight social aversion. If he had done all of this previously, he wouldn't be in the spot he was in now. Kakashi threw himself at his small two-seater couch and pulled out his small red book: Icha Icha Violence. It should hopefully calm him down slightly. He didn't feel it would work very well, but…

With an irate Hokage on his back, and the threat of his student going youthful, Kakashi started to get serious. He felt sorrier for himself then he had in a very long time. His lips slowly morphed into a smile reading the first line of his favourite book - he couldn't believe she'd actually read the book, most females didn't. Plus, she didn't even attempt to maim him for reading it in front of his students. Kakashi had gotten the idea that she'd somewhat liked the book. This Genie was interesting, he'd give her that. It would be quite unfortunate if he had to take her out of the picture - it would only happen if she was taking advantage of Naruto's condition. Kakashi did think there was more to it than that.

This really was a unique situation. Maybe having _this _genin team wouldn't be so bad. He'd see.


	5. Chapter 5

**Ain't Never Had A Friend Like Me**

**A/N – Alright, to start with, over 1K people are following this. You all bloody rock, that's all. Next I'm going to get to a few things I noticed were causing a little bit of confusion amongst you all. Since, there was more than one, I decided it would be easier to just tell you all here so that there's no confusion.**

_**Kakashi knowing Willow's name was 'Genie'**_**. I'm not sure if you remember but, in the second chapter Naruto was talking about his 'Genie-Nee-Chan' to Kakashi. He'd be a pretty poor genius if he didn't figure that out.**

_**The genre not being humour**_**. To be honest, I wasn't very sure how this was going to write itself out when I posted the first chapter. The characters have appeared to want to be funny in these last few chapters though… Do you think I should change it? I feel like its leaning more towards family than it is friendship as well, so I think that's going to change. **

_**As for parings. **_**A few of you seem to really want them, and the other half is adverse them completely. I'll just say that at this point, it's the last thing Willow wants. She wants to go home – to England. However, maybe when Naruto's older – she might have found a way back, she might not of. Who knows what will happen? But I will say that there is no significant focus on parings. There is going to be undertones of Romance, just no significant focus on it. The characters listed are Naruto and Harry/Willow so of course, it's mainly going to focus on them, and their daily interactions.**

**Any other queries you'd like me to clear up, leave it in a review and I will answer it all for you! …Well, if it doesn't spoil the story that is. I do enjoy bringing back things I put into place chapters previous. So trust me, most things are done for a reason. Enjoy Reading! **

**Naruto POV**

**Training Ground Seven**

Naruto was exhausted. Completely and utterly wreaked. And he hadn't even gotten to Team Training yet, but he didn't really worry that much. When they didn't have a super-cool D-Rank mission, they're training consisted of team training. He was running a little bit late to that as well, now that he thought about it… He didn't worry too much. Sensei was _always_ late.

Plus, he was only like 20 minutes late. Brows-Sensei took training way to seriously! Like, Naruto couldn't even take him very seriously when all he did was yell about youth. Though, his taijutsu was improving so much that he might even be able to fight the Bastard and win! He was getting so good, and it was all thanks to his Nee-Chan getting him these lessons with Brows-Sensei.

He imagined for a moment, what his life would have been like if he hadn't released Genie-Chan from the lamp. Would he even have passed the graduation exam?

Naruto slowly drawled towards the bridge that the Bastard and Hinata would be waiting at and he stopped dead. In the middle of his two teammates was his teacher. Kakashi was there. No, it couldn't be his Sensei! It was an imposter! Momentarily forgetting that he was dead tired already he gave a shout and pointed at the man dramatically.

"Who are you and what do you want!?" He yelled, his eyes narrowed onto the innocent looking figure. Ha! He knew better than that! It couldn't be Kakashi-Sensei… He would be… on time!

The fake Sensei sighed, and then groaned. "It's too early for you to be so loud."

"You can't be Kakashi-Sensei! You're on time!" Naruto shouted, not bothering to lower his voice at all.

"And your late," Fake-Kakashi said, rolling his one good eye. "God, I've forgotten how annoying it was waiting for someone who was late."

Naruto's mouth dropped open… It was actually Sensei! Or someone good at knowing exactly what Sensei would say. Sensei clapped his hands together, and slipped the red book he was reading back into his vest. He was reading a different Icha Icha… but it was still that perverted book! Damn it all!

"Great, now that I've got all your attention. Do you remember me saying that you couldn't handle my type of training?" He asked the three Genin with the brightest possible voice that Naruto had ever heard in his life.

The three Genin nodded slowly; Sasuke responding with a slow, "Yes?"

Kakashi clapped and the look in his eye, Naruto would describe as being truly evil. "Well, my cute little Genin. Welcome to hell."

Poor Hinata looked like she was about to burst into tears just hearing those words uttered. "Let's start with a light warm up, shouldn't we?" Kakashi-Sensei asked, turning to face Hinata.

"Alright," Naruto responded when he realised that none of his other teammates hadn't responded. Kakashi wagged his finger at him and Naruto stood there confused. Was he being told off for agreeing with his teacher?

"Hinata, I would like to hear from you, actually, not the dunce."

Naruto opened his mouth to loudly claim that he was in fact. Not a dunce and how dare Kakashi-Sensei call him one, when his mouth was muffled by a gloved hand. Sensei didn't even look at him as he blocked Naruto's only way to communicate his displeasure.

"Y-yes, K-kakashi-Sensei," Hinata mumbled, a faintly pink colour dusting the top of her checks as she twiddled her thumbs.

"I'm sorry Hinata-Chan, could you say that a bit louder. I didn't think the dunce heard you," Kakashi laughed. Naruto would kick Kakashi-Sensei's arse the second he let go of him! He swore he would!

"U-um, I think that would be a g-good idea, Sensei," Hinata repeated a little bit louder than she had previously. Sensei smiled happily and removed his hand from Naruto's mouth. The blonde glared at the older man heatedly.

"Let's start with… ten laps around Konoha, followed by a few hundred sit ups, push ups, star jumps, you know, the like."

If Naruto hadn't trained with Gai, these numbers would seem impossible, fortunately, Gai did more and Naruto was sure he was going to be fine. The relief, he was sure was written upon his face and must have looked quite odd compared to the looks of slight horror on his other teammates faces. He knew this because Kakashi's eye narrowed at him.

"Except Naruto. Naruto with fifty laps, and double the amount of everything else."

"That's not fair!" Naruto cried heatedly, thinking of all the reason that this was unfair, he was still so tired from the five hundred laps he did with Gai and Lee!

"Life's not fair," Kakashi-Sensei responded airily. "You all have… forty five minutes to complete it all."

"If we don't?" Sasuke asked, and Naruto could hear the trepidation in his voice.

"Don't finish?" Kakashi-Sensei had one of those creepy eye-smiles going on again. "Well… You don't want to see the punishment… do you?"

Hinata squeaked, presumably with a slight amount of fear. Why was Kakashi-Sensei being so… strict? Naruto had gotten used to the lax 'I-don't-really-want-to-teach-you' Sensei. But this… "Why aren't you running?" Kakashi asked his students, amused. "The clock started five minutes ago."

Damn it! Naruto suddenly took off as fast as he could. He did not want to see what Kakashi-Sensei's punishment would be if he didn't manage to complete this on time. Run, was all he could think, run, run, run. He needed to overlap his teammates – running with Bushy Brows had to have taught him something.

God, he was tired. Run, run, run. At least he was allowed to run using his feet and not his hands, and by god, he wasn't running backwards either…

Kami of Ramen, by the time he finished running and got back he could see Sasuke and Hinata already into their push ups, with Sensei… as he reading Icha Icha whilst sitting on Sasuke's back!? Naruto dove right next to Hinata and started doing pushups as fast as he could.

By the time the time limit was up, Naruto hadn't even begun the starjumps and was bloody tired as hell. "Well, it seems everyone but Naruto finished."

"You doubled my amount!" Naruto whined, feeling like Sensei was plotting against him. How dare he?!

"This must be nothing compared to what Gai is putting you through. Yes, I do know about that."

Naruto blinked slowly, was Sensei annoyed that he was going to another teacher to get taught? Was this why he was putting him through all of this torture!? "Let's play a game. It's called, 'Target Practice'. Sasuke and Hinata you get to use Naruto here as target practice. Naruto, the catch is… you have to stay on a tree. If you fall, well…" Kakashi-Sensei's chuckle was really dark.

"Do ya mean with your chakra, like the tree walking?" Naruto asked, slightly worried. Sure he could do it, but, he'd never ran around a tree trying to dodge sharp pointy objects before. He could hardly manage to run up and down the damn thing! It took all of his concentration!

"For every time either of you miss, by the way, is another lap around Konoha for your 'cool down' exercise," Kakashi said mildly looking back towards Sasuke and Hinata whose eyes were wider than saucepans. Sensei held up a finger as if to shush any objection they might make. "No ifs, not buts. You said you could handle it~."

"You're a sadist, Sensei," Naruto grumbled under his breath, his eye twitching with the thought of having to stay on the tree with the Bastard throwing bloody Kunai at him.

"What was that Naruto? You want to run all of their laps with them? How nice of you!" Kakashi-Sensei chirped, leaving Naruto dumbfounded. What happened to their Sensei! Why!? Why… This time it was Naruto's turn to gulp. What had he gotten himself into…?

Willow POV

Naruto's Apartment

Willow couldn't understand the appeal of being a ninja, she decided when she saw Naruto waltz into his apartment and fall asleep on his table after a prompt ten seconds. Her first thought was that Gai and maybe gone a little too hard on the poor boy, then she remembered that he had training with Kakashi after that. It would explain why he was so tired at least, but Naruto was a fountain of energy.

She wouldn't have ever expected him to fall asleep like that. She concluded quite quickly that he wasn't asleep. "I wonder if anyone wants to get Ramen with me?" she questioned the thin air, watching as Naruto shot up at the mention of Ramen.

"Ramen!" The boy cried cheerfully, as if he wasn't asleep a few moments ago. Willow smirked down at the boy, who did not look sheepish in the slightest, indeed, he looked rather excited. "Now!? Please Nee-Chan! Ichiraku Ramen!?"

"If you want to pay for it," Willow countered, feeling guilty when she saw his eager head nod. She really needed to get a job. If she was going to stay here, which she felt was kind of necessary until she found another way to get home – then she couldn't rely on a kid, or theft.

Maybe it would help with her boredom problem. It was a subject to consider a little bit later, perhaps. Willow followed the now hyper boy right back out of the door, and it amazed her, just how quickly Ramen could change the boys attitude.

If felt like a ten second walk to the stand that the boy started to blubber about the second she had agreed. Her first impression was that the tiny stand looked as homely as a small stand could look. Despite the fact that it was completely made out of wood, and once she stepped inside she could still feel the breeze from outside, but it still felt like it held warmth.

It was like walking into a room that Molly Weasley had obviously had a hand in decorating. It didn't look anything like she would have done, of course, but it still felt the same way. "Hey Naruto! Who's your friend?" the older man that was standing behind the rather large (for the space given) counter. He had a rather friendly smile, and Willow found herself liking his warm personality already.

"Hey Old Man!" Naruto greeted with a large grin on his face, most likely thinking about all the Ramen he was going to eat. Willow did have to admit that she severely cut down the boys intake of instant noodles by nearly 100%. "This is Genie-Nee-Chan! She makes me clean my house and eat yucky vegetables, but she's okay. We need Miso Ramen, two bowls!"

The older man chuckled lightly at the boy, moving behind the counter to start preparing the noodles. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Genie. I'm Teuchi."

Merlin damn that kid. She wasn't going to be known as Genie, damn it! Why!? Willow stopped herself before she could sigh. Was it wrong that she missed hearing the shrill pitch of Hermione yelling the name Willow, or Ron shortening her name to Will – because he was too lazy to say the whole thing? Was it so wrong?!

Willow forced a small smile onto her features. "It's nice to meet you, Teuchi. Naruto never stops talking about this place."

"Only 'cause you never let me have Ramen. She says it's unhealthy," he whispered the last part to the older man conspiringly.

Willow rolled her eyes for real this time. "Only in the dosage that you eat it, kid."

Naruto was very mature about her response and stuck his lower lips out, causing a massive smirk to cover her face. The kid was just way too easy. "Of course Naruto," the man added, giving her a sly wink. "You can never have too much Ramen."

"See, Nee-Chan!?" Naruto said with a smug look on his child-like features. Willow grinned, deciding it was best to get off the topic of Ramen, lest she wanted to keep her head attached to her shoulders.

"So, do you want to explain what happened today?" Willow asked the little boy sitting next to her with a risen eyebrow. She was curious about what happened to drain his energy so drastically.

"Kakashi-Sensei has gone insane," Naruto started to nod his head wisely. "He was on time and then…" he shuddered. "All of the running, like double the amount that the others had to do which was so unfair, and then cause I didn't finish in time they threw kunai at me, and I fell off the tree – and then we had to have a sparring match. I actually bet the Bastard but he didn't like that and then Hinata used her glowing eyes to fight Sensei, and they were really cool. But then we had to go through everything kata move by move and he corrected everything! _Everything_ Nee-Chan!"

Naruto had said this all so fast that she barely caught all of what he was saying. She figured that he was basically saying that Kakashi was taking training them seriously, and she wondered what caused his change of mind. "Wow, that sounds tiring," Willow commented, not really sure what she needed to say to the boy when he had such a scary look in his eye.

Naruto nodded his head eagerly with Willow's sympathy on board. "Anyway, we didn't even do a D-Rank mission, cause Sensei said it wasn't necessary. Then, then he started to teach Sasuke how to climb trees and he was all like, 'I can't believe the Uchica is the only one who doesn't know how to climb trees', and he was all sarcastic! And he made me fight Hinata-Chan and her glowing eyes are reaaaaaaally scary!"

Jeez the kid could really talk your ear off, couldn't he? "Glowing eyes?" Willow asked, slightly interested in where this was going. What did the kid mean by that?

Naruto nodded his head eagerly. "Yeah, she called it something – I don't remember but it makes her see better I think. I'm not sure. I'll ask tomorrow-."

Naruto's would-be speech was cut off by the steaming bowl of noodles that was suddenly placed in front of him. Another bowl was soon placed in front of her and she gave the chef a thankful smile. "Thank you."

"Oh yeah, thanks old man," Naruto added, quickly cottoning on that this was something he should also say. The Ramen chef looked mildly shocked by Naruto's newfound manners.

"Thank you for waiting. It took a bit, sorry, my Ayame went on Holiday for the rest of the month, I've been hard to do everything all on my own," he gave them a nice smile before adding; "Enjoy!"

"Oh," Naruto said slowly, looking like he was thinking something through. "Nee-Chan can help you during the day, she has nothing else to do."

Willow's shoulders slumped slightly, 'she has nothing else to do'… Ouch kid, that hurt. The older man gave Naruto a gentle smile. "You can't offer your sisters services like that Naruto…"

"I don't mind it actually, until your Ayame gets back, it's only what, a few weeks?" Willow offered, maybe she could elevate her boredom.

Naruto was nodding his head eagerly, a noodle drooping from his mouth. The kid couldn't wait, could he? "Nee-Chan's a really good cook, she even taught me how to make stuff. She has sooo many cookbooks – and I don't know how she got them, but she does!"

"I can't afford to pay you more than I pay Ayame, which isn't too great," he looked slightly uncomfortable. Willow shrugged.

"To be honest with you, I'm just a bit bored doing nothing all day," Willow admitted, not really knowing why she was signing up to work in a stand. Not only any stand, but a Ramen stand.

"Right then, I _could _use the help. Swing by tomorrow, right? We open around nine," he said with a large smile, his shoulders dropping with relief and Naruto was practically humming with happiness.

"This doesn't mean you get to eat Ramen every day," Willow waned the boy who just deflated. Willow had the small inkling that this was exactly what the boy had been hoping for. Willow rolled her eyes.

**Naruto POV**

**Konoha's Streets**

Naruto truly thought that Kakashi-Sensei had gone insane. Absolutely mental. Bonkers, as Nee-Chan would say. He was walking back towards his apartment after visiting Iruka-Sensei to complain about Kakashi-Sensei, and his horrible training practices. Iruka-Sensei hadn't found it nearly as traumatising as Naruto had once he heard about all the laps he had to run.

Naruto was just tired! Plus, Nee-Chan was still teaching him how to cook, and still teaching him body parts – and watching him practice with his kunai after every training session. It felt like his life was all work-work-work and he had no time to do anything that would be any fun!

Naruto missed pranking people. Maybe, he's prank someone – just once now that he was a ninja. That was okay, wasn't it? Naruto was dragged out of his deliberations when he heard the sound of someone sniffing. It wasn't a normal one, it was like someone was crying. Naruto turned around to see if whoever was crying needed any help when to his surprise – it was Hinata!

She was leaning against the wall, her bangs shadowing over her eyes, but Naruto could never mistake the sound of someone crying. Naruto walked up to the blue haired girl with a small amount of hesitation. "Hey, Hinata-Chan, are you alright?"

Hinata squeaked – was that normal? She almost sounded like a mouse! "N-N-Naruto-Kun!"

Naruto blinked, she'd never looked so startled when she saw him before… "Are you alright, Hinata-Chan? Was someone being mean to you? Do you need me to beat them up with my amazing ninja skills?"

The other teen gave Naruto a watery looking smile, as she gave him a nervous sounding chuckle. "It's okay N-Naruto-Kun," she almost whispered. "Thank you."

Naruto frowned. It wasn't okay if she was crying! Naruto knew what it felt like to have someone mercilessly bully you because of something you didn't understand. Naruto knew that people were mean, rude and intentionally hurtful. He'd become resigned to the fact that he didn't know why people were mean to him – and most likely always going to be mean to him, but that didn't mean the same thing was going to happen with Hinata.

She might be odd, but she _was _his team mate. "Who made you cry!?" Naruto demanded, he wouldn't let anyone pick on his favourite teammate!

"It's okay," she repeated, again. She started to play with her wrists, grasping each one with her opposite hands. Naruto watched the movement curiously. "I just… I uh, had an argument with my father." Her face went red and she looked at the ground.

Naruto wouldn't really know what that was like. But Naruto felt like it would be enough of an excuse to cry. Naruto paused, how did he make her feel better? When he was angry or upset, Nee-Chan always made him talk about it – and he always ended up feeling better. Maybe it would work the same with Hinata? 

"Wanna talk about it?" Naruto asked.

Hinata honestly looked so shocked at his words, and let out a loud squawk (that reminded Naruto of a bird he once chased through the park) and ran away. Naruto blinked slowly and watched at the girl's short hair swayed behind her as he dashed away.

Has he said something wrong? He needed to ask Genie-Chan.

**Willow POV**

**Ickiramu Ramen**

The first thing that Willow had learnt that week was that making Ramen by hand, was hard. Trying to remember allot the customers special orders, like 'no shrimp', 'extra miso,' and 'make the broth less frothy' were not only hard to remember but impossible to do!

The first day she was exhausted, but Teuchi had told her that she'd done a remarkable job. Willow wished the man hadn't been so nice. He didn't need to try and make her feel better. The following few days she got better – and she'd only gotten into one argument with a customer. Seriously, she'd told him that if she left it in for longer it would burn, but he'd wanted it 'crispy'. It had burned though, just like she told him it would.

Willow was beginning to realise that it took a special sort of person to deal with people that brought food. She wasn't going to be one of those people that managed to function in the food industry. It was hard. Plus, she wasn't too sure she agreed with Teuchi's statement that 'The customer is always right'. She found the customer was just _stupid. _

She couldn't wait till this Ayame came back. She was so looking forward to being bored each day! Willow sighed again, and Teuchi sent her an apologetic smile. She sat down at the little bench on her side of the counter. It would get busy again in a few hours, but for now everything was perfectly empty – and Teuchi had cooking the noodles perfectly under control.

"Nee-Chan~!"

Was that Naruto? Willow tilted her head to see the blonde blur running through the opening of the door, with a wide grin on his face. Willow hung her head. "Yo," she responded with a tired smile, the old man moving to greet the enthusiastic blonde.

He didn't think he could have Ramen for lunch did he? Belatedly, she remembered it was Wednesday, the day he told her that his team went out for lunch 'if they passed the warmup'. Willow hadn't known you could even fail a warm up until that point.

Her eyes were drawn to the door opening again a few more moments later, she knew that this had to be the team that he wouldn't stop talking about. The first boy through had to be Sasuke, with his dark hair and even more dark and haunted eyes. No child should have that look in his eyes – a look like he'd seen true horrors. Next was a meek looking girl, with big bright pupil less eyes. That had to be Hinata. Of course, Kakashi walked in right behind them, and his eye immediately latched onto her, and Willow grimaced.

Even though he was wearing a mask, Willow could sense the amused smirk filter across his face. Merlin damn it, she wiped her hand nervously on her beige apron. "Hey, hey! Genie-Nee-Chan this is Hinata-Chan, and Sasuke-Teme and Kakashi-Sensei! I'm allowed to have Ramen right?! Cause I did really well in training and Sensei said I could decide!" Naruto shot her a pleading look, begging her to say yes.

Willow blinked, not realising she had so much power over the little boy and wondering how he learned to say that all so fast. "I guess?"

"Yes!" Naruto cheered. "Ramen! I want-,"

"Miso with extra miso," Willow cut him off with a smirk. Naruto pouted. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Naruto talks about you all so much," she turned to the other two kids in the empty stall. "What would you like?"

"One bowl of Shrimp Ramen, please, Genie-San," the girl muttered, playing with her fingers. Willow had to fight the urge to twitch her eye. The girl seemed nervous enough as it was. Merlin damn everything! Damn it! Damn it all! Willow counted to ten in her head a few times to calm herself down.

Anything but freaking _Genie. _The other male teammate of Naruto's added his order like he didn't notice her mini-freak out. "Salt Ramen, please."

"Well," Kakashi said an easy smile on his face but Willow felt a sense of forbidding. "I'd like a bowl of Miso Ramen, without the Miso, add some Shrimp, light salt, and a little less broth than normal."

Willow's eye twitched horridly, and the man's smile widened. How did he know everything that was a sure fire way to piss he off!? It was like he had some sort of talent for it! Sasuke was the only one that seemed to realise that something was happening that wasn't normal. Don't kill, don't kill – Willow chanted in her head, and attempted to stop the horrible eye twitching.

"Coming right up!" Willow said in a fake cheery voice, and a murderous smile. Willow went over to the older man to help relay the message and help in prepare the noodles. She'd kill that man. Truly, she would. A few moments later, she passed all the bowls out to their respective owners.

"Thanks Nee-Chan!" Naruto said with a large grin before he hurriedly downing the entire bowl with a few foul swoops.

"Thank you," Hinata muttered under her breath before she snapped her chopsticks apart. Willow shuddered slightly. She hated chopsticks, she could still hardly use them properly!

"You're very welcome, Hinata-Chan. If you don't like it, don't hesitate to tell me," she assured the shy girl. The lavender-eyed girl shot her an awestruck look, like she was simply the most amazing person she'd ever met. Or at least that was how Willow interpreted it.

"I have a problem," Kakashi said raising his hand, and Willow's eyes narrowed at him. Could he just give it up? This was a terribly sad way to get payback! Willow guessed it was because his last method didn't exactly work for him.

"Yes?" Willow asked, trying not to glare at the silver-haired ninja. Naruto gaped at his teacher, not believing that he could actually have an issue with his ramen.

"I asked for Miso Ramen, where's the Miso?" The man shook his head in mock-sadness.

"You _asked _for no Miso," Willow retaliated, a violent eye twitch developing in her right eye.

"That doesn't sound right. If I wanted no Miso, why get Miso Ramen?" He questioned lightly with a curved eye indicating he was smiling. His students just gave him a confused look. Wilow's hand twitched, she wanted to curse him. That was it! She hated working in food! Never again! Never, ever, again. For a moment she fantasised about casting the bat-boogy hex on him.

One of Ginny's favoured curses. It would be glorious, she could picture it now. "Genie-San," the older man's voice broke through her thoughts, and she was brought back to reality.

Not that damned name again! "What?" she asked flatly.

"I want a new one, considering _you _messed it up!" He had this damned cheery voice on again. She seriously thought back on the 'no violence' pact she had with Hermione. She never wanted to kill someone more than she did now.

"Maybe you should learn how to order properly first!"

The Hatake placed a hand over the top of his vest, and the glint in his eye promised that he was not letting anything go too quickly. "Is that how to talk to paying customers?"

"I can arrange to have your book taken out, don't forget that," Willow threatened. Kakashi looked triumphant. Oh shit.

Naruto on the other hand, along with his teammates were looking between the two adults rapidly, obviously wondering what the hell was going on. A match that included pride and a bit of ego, Willow would answer Naruto later that night.

"So you admit that was you?"

"I admit to nothing," Willow countered, taking his bowl and dumped an entire spoonful of Miso into it and stirred, whilst eyeing him and begging him to complain. She then shoved the bowl towards him again, holding the spoon like it was a weapon of mass destruction. "It's not _my_ fault you have terrible timing."

Kakashi's eye twitched. "Say….Nee-Chan… Do you know Kakashi-Sensei?" Naruto asked slowly.

"I think that's obvious by now, Idiot," Sasuke responded dryly, rolling his eyes.

"I'm not an idiot, you Bastard!" Naruto yelled in retaliation.

"Inside voice Naruto," Willow scolded on reflex. Naruto's shoulders slumped and he muttered a hasty apology. "To answer your question: Unfortunately."

"I'm offended, honestly," Kakashi added dryly, poking the noodles with a chopstick like it would jump out of the bowl and attack him if he made too many sudden movement.

"Then my job here is done."

"…Um, Nee-Chan, isn't your job to serve Ramen?" Naruto asked hesitating.

"Say nothing," she warned the boy, a dangerous look entering her eyes. She would not lose to the silver haired man in the war that she'd started. Honestly, how did this happen!?

**Naruto POV**

**Training Ground 7**

"I want a D-Rank!" Naruto protested the second that Sensei brought out the ropes. He was not spending another day tied to a freaking tree! "It's been forever since we've had a D-Rank!"

"You don't need them," Kakashi-Sensei dismissed him easily. Sasuke was the one to frown at his teacher's words, his eyes narrowing and contemplating the ideas in his mind. Whilst Sasuke was content to just think this through- Naruto was not one to easily be distracted.

"I want to get a proper Mission, damn it!" Naruto yelled, pointing at his teacher dramatically. How can he be a kick arse Ninja if he _wasn't doing any missions!? _

"How would your sister feel if she knew you were swearing?" Sensei challenged him airily.

"She swears more than I do," Naruto countered, distracted by the thought that she would be mad at him. Nee-Chan wouldn't mind him swearing right? Saying 'damn it' wasn't really swearing? Was it? Naruto bit his lip in confusion, pausing to contemplate the idea.

Taking Naruto's distraction, Kakashi-Sensei pushed forward. "I'm teaching all of you the next stage of Chakra control today!"

"Really?!" Naruto called with wide eyes, his earlier insistence of getting a D-Rank quickly disappearing, much to his Sensei's relief.

Sensei nodded his head. "This is called, 'Water Walking' all you need to do is keep yourself afloat on the water. It's like the Tree Walking, but harder of course. Who can tell me why?"

Naruto scrunched his face up thinking about the reasons it might be a bit harder. "Because its water and the water moves?" he said hesitantly.

"Exactly!" Kakashi-Sensei beamed at him and Naruto found himself standing taller under his Sensei's praise. "So how would this be different than Tree Walking, Hinata?"

Hinata's head ducked down, going slightly red, not used to being called upon suddenly to answer a question. She looked up again slowly, to see her team waiting patiently (or as patiently as the orange clad boy could bother being) for her to answer. "Um, the-the currents are c-c-contently moving around s-s-s-so you need to adjust your chakra constantly. When in Tree Walking it's only o-o-one constant output…"

"Couldn't have said it better myself, Hinata-Chan!" Sensei praised the girl, who looked like she was glowing under the praise. "Now since we so conveniently have a nice river flowing right over there. Let's see how my adorable little students manage this task?"

"Yeah!" Naruto called. This would be so easy! Naruto charged back towards the river that they always sat next to waiting for their teacher to turn up. Granted, lately, it was Naruto they were waiting for. He charged right to the river and channelled his chakra to his feet and walked right over the water. He stood there beaming and laughing for a full moment before he sunk under the water.

Naruto failed for a few moments before he realised that he could stand up, and he pushed himself out of the water, glaring at the surface like it was the waters fault he'd fallen in.

"Not as easy as it sounds, is it, Naruto?" Kakashi-Sensei asked, laughing at his misfortune. "How about you show us how it's done, Hinata-Chan?"

Hinata went brilliantly red again, and nodded her head meekly. Naruto watched Hinata like a hawk. If she fell in, he'd be sure to help her back out again! It's what friends did, right? Hinata took one steady step onto the water, then another, and another, before she was carefully walking up and down the moving stream.

Naruto gasped at the girl before breaking out into a mighty cheer. "Good job Hinata-Chan!" He gave her a thumps up. "You've already got it!"

"…My father has already taught me this," she admitted, lowering her head. Naruto couldn't understand why Hinata didn't seem to be happy with this….

"Excellent," Kakashi clapped sounding genuinely happy that Hinata had managed this. "So while these two attempt to blunder their way through this. I'm going to teach you a Jutsu!"

"No fair!" Naruto called with a huff.

"Do you know how to walk on water?" The Jonin questioned, with an arched eyebrow.

Naruto shook his head slowly. A small frown forming on his face. "No."

"Then get to it! You have until Sunset! Actually… No one is leaving till you all have it down pat!" Sensei was a sadist.

AN actual sadist.

Naruto sighed and took of his cool orange jacket, it was already wet, and so he didn't see the point in wearing it. He also took off his shoes, maybe if he didn't wear them it would be easier. Naruto tried to focus on his feet and step out onto the water again, but this time he sunk much faster than the last time – the water bubbled even!

Naruto pulled himself out again, and he watched Sasuke attempt with narrowed eyes. He found it really funny when Sasuke sunk even faster than he did, the water practically exploding. Naruto snickered. He wasn't the only one struggling. Thank Kami!

Naruto went out onto the water again. And again. And again. _And again_. They all ended with the same result, he couldn't keep his head above the water and struggled so much. This was really tough!

Naruto dragged himself out of the water for the twentieth time when Sensei popped up again. "How are you two brats doing?" he asked them, eyeing their practically drowned looks with apparent glee.

Naruto looked over at Hinata to see what she was doing and she seemed to be practising hand signs, again, again and again. "Great!" Naruto puffed out his chest, with a grin that wasn't really that big.

He sucked at Water Walking… But he wasn't going to admit that! "Let's see it then," Kakashi-Sensei asked in amusement.

Naruto focused really hard. Maybe if he went a further distance, and faster than he had before the momentum would keep him afloat! Yes! That made perfect sense! Naruto nodded his head with determination. He strode right towards the water and made a run for it.

He got halfway across the river before he started to sink – unfortunately for the boy, it had been quite a bit deeper than the start of the riverbed had been and he couldn't touch the bottom! Oh crap! He couldn't swim!

Before he knew what was happening, he was pulled back to the shore…. By Sasuke!? "I didn't need your help… Bastard."

"Really?" Sasuke drawled, uninterested. "It looked like you were drowning."

Naruto's shoulders slumped. "I was fine…!"

Kakashi hummed and the bluntly gave his opinion. "That sucked. You need to learn how to swim if you want to be a good ninja Naruto. I suggest you get that sister of yours to teach you."

Naruto rose his eyebrow but eventually nodded his head. "Okay."

"Although, I might have to be there to supervise," Sensei nodded his head wisely, rubbing his masked chin. "I need to make sure your being taught properly!"

"Then why don't _you_ just teach the Idiot?" Sasuke asked his eyes calculating, and his voice ringing with a deadpan. A slight smirk working its way over his mouth. "Unless, you just wanted to see the Idiots' sister in a bathing suit."

That had done it! "You- You pervert!" Naruto yelled, pointing at the man. "You can't be perverted over _my _Nee-Chan… Y-you…." Anger had managed to take a hold of the young blonde and his eyes narrowed and he launched forward intending to hit his Sensei.

Naruto didn't talk into account him being slowed down by the amount of water in his clothes. Sensei laughed at him. The Bastard! Naruto needed to hurt Kakashi, and now!

Sasuke on the other hand was simply relieved that he'd managed to sufficiently distract Kakashi from quizzing him on the stupid exercise. He hadn't exactly gotten the whole thing down pat yet, and he didn't want to awkwardly fall into the river with the rest of his team watching…

Naruto let out a battle cry, launching at his Sensei only to hit a log. "Come back here, you Perverted-Sensei!" Naruto yelled into the distance, Sensei had to come back!

**Willow POV**

**Naruto's Apartment**

"Nee-Chan?"

Willow heard the timid voice from her spot on the comfy little couch the boy owned, and she looked up from the Icha Icha book she had been reading. She's changed the cover of the book so Naruto wouldn't know what exactly it was that she was reading, but she still enjoyed the plot line. She looked up to see the little boy standing there, drenched, head to foot.

Willow raised an eyebrow, moving to go grab a towel and a fluffy blanket draped over the back of the chair. She'd brought it the day before hand – with real money! Because honestly the Uzumaki's apartment was cold at night. Plus it was more fun snuggling into a blanket than it was it place heating charms on herself.

She draped the blanket around the boy, pushing him onto the seat she'd just vacated and started to towel dry the boys' hair. "What happened to you?" she was amused. This was going to be one hell of a story!

"Sensei was teaching us Water Walking," the boy begun sourly. "I fell in."

"Oh?" Willow asked with a gentle smirk on her face. "How do you do that?"

"Well, you channel your chakra into your feet and then you walk across the water, but I can't swim so…" Naruto paused momentarily to scowl at thin air. "Canyouteachme?"

"I'm sorry, I don't think I caught that."

"Can you teach me how to swim?" Naruto asked again, a bit slower, still with a pink tinge in his cheeks.

Willow blinked slowly. It wasn't like the Durselys ever taught her how to swim. She remembered once she went to the school swimming lessons, but Aunt Petunia had banned her from them once she realised that she was better than Dudley. Thinking back to times she didn't care much to remember, she thought back to the second task, and having to dive through that lake for an hour. She shuddered at the memory of the mer-people holding spears and the water based creatures that had tried everything to stop her from reaching her goal.

Willow was not interested in learning how to swim, she determined. But looking down at the shivering boy, all wrapped up in a bright red quilt, she couldn't help but nod her head with an uneasy smile. "Of course. But, I'm not too sure how to swim myself. We'll have to get a teacher."

Naruto's shoulders slumped. "We'll learn together," she winked at the younger boy. "I think they have a pool just off the main part of Konoha Road. I walked past it a few days ago. Someone should be able to show us a few pointers, what do you think?"

"Nowhere near Kakashi-Sensei?" Naruto asked his voice suspicious.

Willow really did raise her eyebrow in honest confusion. What? "Your Sensei will have absolutely no idea," Willow promised. The kid most likely just didn't want his Sensei to think he couldn't swim, she concluded. "Now, let's get you in the shower before you catch a cold!"

"Yes! Nee-Chan!" Naruto saluted, a wide goofy grin spreading over his face.

! ###$$$%%%^^^&amp;&amp;**~~~~~~~~LINEBREAK~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~! ##$$%%^^&amp;&amp;**

The very next day, Willow had Naruto meet her at the Ramen Stand when she finished working there for the day. Bidding farewell at the owner Willow turned to the slightly nervous boy. "Ready to learn how to swim?" She challenged with a wide smile.

Naruto nodded his head eagerly. Willow slung her arm around the boys shoulder, and dragged him with her towards the pool that she'd previously seen. Naruto chatted to her about training, and about how Hinata's new wall was totally the coolest, and could even deflect Sasuke's fireball. He also went into detail about how much he wished he could make fireballs too.

Willow nodded at the right points, and just let the kid rave about his day. They walked through the door and walked over to the lady that was standing behind the small desk that sat in front of a display of goggles and bathing suits, and at this space, she could smell the distinct smell of chorine.

The smell took her back to the one class she'd managed to get to. Frowning and shaking off the memory of her cousin yanking her ankle so she went underwater – now that had been traumatising. She hadn't known it had been Dudley and she had thought it was a water goblin. Her teacher had not been amused.

"Hello, how can I help you?" The Lady hadn't done much but glance up from the book that she was writing in.

"We just wanted to learn how to swim, just the basics really. Is there any classes on today, or another day?" she asked politely.

"We have one starting in half an hour, of course, it's for the elderly, but… I'm so sorry, Miss. I can let you in but, we don't serve people like him," the lady had now looked up at them and he gaze was focused on Naruto, who shrunk back from her gaze.

Willow frowned. "You don't serve Ninja?"

"No we do. Just not _him," _there had been an unexpected venom in her voice. It left Willow slightly speechless and Naruto hung his head, looking downcast. What the hell was going on?

"Turn around Naruto," Willow said slowly. "And block your ears."

Naruto nodded, and Willow was shocked by the change that had overcome the boy. It was almost like he was used to this kind of treatment. Willow looked the women dead in the eye and raised her hand. Casting a look around, to make sure no one was watching… "Confundous," she mumbled, focusing really hard on being able to perform the spell wandlessly.

The women's eyes unfocused. "You're going to let both of us through. Free classes and bathing suits, curtesy because of your unexpected rudeness. You will always let Uzumkai Naruto through these doors without hesitation. Do you understand?"

"Yes," The woman responded, her eyes unfocusing, moving backwards to point to the items on display behind her. "I hope you can forgive my unexpected rudeness, please, take a bathing suit and a free lesson as apology."

Willow nodded in satisfaction and shook Naruto's shoulder and the boy turn around, moving his hands from his ears. "Which one would you like?" She asked the slightly confused boy. "The orange one?" she asked.

Naruto nodded slowly. "We'll take the orange kids suit and I will have the matching orange one-piece," she requested. After the way she'd treated Naruto, Willow felt no shame in taking these things for free. "Matching googles too, please."

"Of course," the woman mumbled grabbing the items and handing them over. "Take these towels. They're free for each new member." Willow happily took the two white towels with the name of the establishment sown into the bottom in black cotton.

"Hold these, would you Naruto?" The blonde nodded his head taking the equipment with a look of pure confusion on his face.

"Now, tell us about this lesson," Willow prompted.

"Of course, it's a swimmers basic course. I'll tell the instructor that you'll be there. It begin in half an hour."

"We'll go through and wait then," Willow said with a smile. "Thank you for your cooperation."

Willow grabbed Naruto's arm and dragged him towards the doors that would lead them to the pool. After the opened the door, she spied the change rooms on the other side of the pool, and she began to drag the poor boy around the rather large body of water.

"Nee-Chan… what did you say to her? She was really mean and then…"

Willow winked at the unsure boy. "Let's just say, that I worked some magic."

She seriously needed to find out why people kept reacting to Naruto in an adverse fashion.

**Naruto POV**

**Training Ground 9**

"Naruto-Kun! Today I have invited a guest to help you in your journey of Youth!" Naruto heard Gai yelling, from miles away. It was alright, really. The Uzumaki had gotten used to Gai's odd rants about youth and his various yelling. It was really too early for him to be very awake – so Naruto just ignored it.

"Morning!" Naruto greeted Gai-Sensei and Lee, as well as the new person that kind of looked like he was related to Hinata.

"Ah, such a youthful greeting on this fine morning! Naruto! Meet Neji-Kun! Another of my youthful students perusing their springtime of youth!" Gai introduced him to the Hinata-Look-Alike.

Neji looked a bit irate with the introduction and rolled his eyes. He didn't really seem to care about the springtime of youth. Naruto decided. "I have called Neji-Kun here today to have a spar with you so you can see just how much you've improved in the noble art of hand-to-hand combat! Lee here will use this opportunity to critique you so he can fan his own powers of youth!"

Fan his what? Naruto was so confused. Never the less, Naruto nodded his head in agreement. It was always just easier to agree with Gai – it was always so much easier. "Now," Gai looked sternly at Neji. "This is a Taijutsu-Only fight. No Gen or Ninjutsu. No weapons of any kind. Just good hard martial arts!"

Naruto sighed. "Are you ready!? The loser must run a thousand laps up and down the Hokage Monument~!"

Naruto looked at Caterpillar-Sensei in horror. That would completely tire him out. He couldn't stand Kakashi's training after doing something as tiring as that! Naruto had to win this fight! He just had to! "Ready?" Gai challenged, and the two boys fell into a ready stance. There was no time to waste with Gai. No time to shot across witty quips like with Kakashi-Sensei.

"Go!" Eyebrows-Sensei called. Naruto shot off right away, determined to not be the one running up the Hokage Monument 1000 times! Naruto's fist skimmed past Neji's chin, and he had to lurch to the side to avoid the jab towards his stomach that the pupiless boy attempted to hit him with.

Naruto knew enough about Hinata to not let the other boy touch him with his hands. Absentmindedly he rubbed his shoulder. It hurt when Hinata-Chan hit him with her eyes-Jutsu. Diverting he swung his legs around in an attempt to knock him over. He needed to avoid his hands!

Neji sprung backwards, avoiding his moving legs, and narrowed his eyes at Naruto. "You won't be able to defeat me, you know. If you can't defeat Lee – it isn't your fate to win this match."

"Lucky I don't believe in fate," Naruto countered cheerfully, jumping up and aiming a high kick towards the boys head. Neji moved his arm to block said kick but the blonde quickly changed his movement. He wasn't going to touch his hands!

"Then you are an Idiot," the long haired boy countered, his eyes narrowed, almost like he'd gotten the idea that he was avoiding his hands he added; "You already know you have no chance against the secret techniques of the Hyuga."

So he was related to Hinata! "Hey! I'm not an idiot, okay!?" Naruto yelled, growing more and more annoyed with the older boy. Who did he think he was, anyway!? Naruto's next punch was sloppy in his anger and Neji managed to catch his fist before it connected with his nose, and then he used his foot to kick the orange clad boy in the stomach – sending him flying.

Naruto coughed, ouch. That really hurt! Naruto used his arms and pushed himself back off the ground in front of him. He glared over at the older ninja. Naruto shot off again, faster than before, quickly going through almost every single type of hit he could think of.

The boy was better than Naruto thought he could be. He ducked, and side stepped his way out of almost all of his hits. It almost reminded Naruto of Kakashi-Sensei. This guy thinks he's so cool!

"It's not your fate to be able to defeat me," Neji repeated again, catching Naruto's own fist in his hand. The blonde used this to his advantage, and yanked his arm towards himself his other hand connecting with Neji's stomach.

The look of supervise on Neji's face was good enough for Naruto! Hah! "Good thing I don't believe in fate. I believe in hard work!" Naruto yelled at the boy, a fire burning in his eyes. "Nothing is just handed to you on a silver plate, if something is worth it, you have to _fight _for it!" Naruto continued yelling, twisting his hand so he could twist Neji's arm.

In shock, Neji accidently appeared to allow Naruto this small power over him. "And you never _ever _give up on something that's worth fighting for!" he decided, attempting to kick Neji's feet from underneath him.

Neji twisted himself out of Naruto's hold, and stepped back. Cold rage in his eyes. "You cannot influence _anything _in this world. It is set in stone. Your fate has already been written. If you think you can even alter it for a moment. Then you're stupider than you look!"

"That's enough!" Gai interrupted the fight, standing between the two feuding Genin.

"I'm not stupid!" Naruto yelled, growing angrier. He kicked the ground he was standing on before storming away in a huff, before Gai-Sensei or Lee could say anything to him. It was way too early for Team Training but Naruto was so angry!

How dare Neji say those things? Did he truly have no faith in this world? Naruto knew it couldn't be true, because if his fate was determined than he never would have meet Genie-Nee and he wouldn't be progressing to be a kick-arse Ninja at such a fast rate.

Neji was so stupid for believing that they couldn't alter their own fate at their will. If it were true, he wouldn't have been able to change his fate with the Genin exam! He had a perfect score! Ha! Naruto vowed to make sure Neji realised that there was no such thing as a fate set in stone. If you wanted something, you went and got it. Something as silly as fate wasn't going to get in his way!


	6. Chapter 6

**Ain't Never Had A Friend Like Me**

* * *

**Willow POV**

**Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

The blonde boy's face was smoothed out in relaxation – a worry free face, and she did realise that he seemed to have quite a bit of pressure on his shoulders. In sleep, this kid managed to find his peace – a peace he didn't acquire very often when he was awake. When awake, the boy was a worried mess of emotions. He was vibrant, guarded, and a little insecure. In sleep, he was just a little kid that was enjoying his light nap. Well, for the next ten seconds he was at least. A light frown marred her face for a brief moment, she couldn't understand why Naruto was treated the way he was by the villagers. She'd been treated poorly because of her magic, the boy couldn't have the same issue that she did. He was just like every other newbie Genin she'd seen.

Shaking her head, a grin bloomed across her face. Raising her hand in front of her rather small body, (sans wand) she pointed towards the form of the sleeping child and then she began to concentrate. The sun had yet to break the horizon outside, and she was determined that Naruto should see the beauty of it – at least once. She remembered the first time Hermione had awoken her for such an experience when they were the same age that Naruto was now, and the experience was simply magical.

She was so going to share it with the kid. After all, why wouldn't the little hellion not want to see the beauty of the rising sun? With all her willpower and concentration, she managed to cast a wandless, _and_ silent aqumenti charm. And it actually worked! A smirk graced her face in astronomical amounts, it was nice to see her efforts to learn to use magic without a wand, whilst being slow moving, was actually working! Wandless magic was hard, and she'd never really had much talent for it to be honest. But, ever since she'd left the… the _lamp _she'd been graced with this instinctive knowledge of how to do it.

Willow honestly thought that it might be connected to the whole 'Master of Death' thing. Was this new ease with wandless magic a direct benefit of this title? If it was, what else had she managed to gain? She'd never been particularly studious as a child, so she wouldn't really know. The only thing that was left to do would to simply wait it out. Or she could ask Death, but that was an idea for another time.

The water hit the boy and the results were instantaneous. Naruto spluttered awake almost as if he was trying to fight the water off, angrily he tried to push the water away from his bright eyes. After a few moments he fixed her with a glare worthy of Snape. She would have honestly been quite terrified if she hadn't lived with this boy for the last few months. "Argh, what was that for Nee-Chan?!"

"To wake you up, obviously," Willow responded cheerfully. Normally, she would deem it practically illegal to be awake this early, and be happy about it – but this was an exception. It was annoying how some people could be awake and happy about it when it was this early. "Come on, I want to show you something! And we're going to _miss_ it if you don't hurry up!"

Naruto shot out of his bed tangling with his sheets as he tried to stand up causing him to fall off his bed. In a quick few seconds he was up and detangled from his sheets, skidding across his floor boards in sock-clad feet with a happy smile. Naruto was one of those annoying happy people when he woke up – you just had to be able to get him up first. It wasn't easy either. "What are you waiting for then?!" He bounced on the heels of his feet, excitement written over his face.

"Come on then!" Willow grabbed the little boys hand and started to drag him out of the door, ignoring his pyjamas. It didn't matter that he was wearing that, it wasn't like he was actually leaving the building. She pulled him up each flight of stairs until they reached the door that lead towards the roof.

A silent unlocking charm and the door clicked open for her pleasure. Merlin, she loved magic. The rules weren't really there for any good reason, in her opinion. Why would they lock the door to the roof? Willow grinned pulling the blonde with her and sitting down at the edge of the building. "What are we doing here, Nee-Chan? It's _cold_…"

The redhead waved him off easily, the kid would be fine eventually – nevertheless she cast a wandless warming charm over the both of them. The smaller one of the two suddenly grinned, knowing what had just occurred. "You'll be alright, little Soldier. My friend Hermione forced me to watch this when I was your age, it's so pretty. Trust me, you'll love it."

"Her-my-nee?" Naruto stumbled over the strange name with mouth twisting in a strange fashion, mispronouncing it. Honestly, she couldn't blame the kid for how he said Hermione's name. After all, it took her awhile to say the name properly as well. She swore the brunette had hated her for those first few months because she stumbled over her name. "That's an odd name. Is she an awesome Genie, too?"

Pale pink lips twitched upwards with the phrasing of the boy's question. It was just such an innocent tone, this kid was the sweetest kid she'd ever met. Granted, she didn't actually know another kid. "Yes, she's an awesome Genie too."

Naruto paused for a moment letting it sink in, he looked like he was thinking hard, considering what it was that she had just said. A smile graced her face, this kid – just two months ago, would not have had that look on his face. She liked to think that she'd been a good influence on him. The Potter pointed up at the sky and the boy's sparkling eyes followed the path of her hand. "You need to watch the sky for this treat. It should start soon."

"Hey, Genie-Nee…"

Willow looked over at the little blonde, his eyes were focused on the sky, waiting like a patient little man. She almost snorted, he was not very patient in the least. "Yes?"

"Do you have a different name too, like Hermy-own-niee?" Naruto struggled to get through Hermione's name a second time. Willow swore he'd buttered the pronunciation more the second time. At least he was trying though, that persistence would get him far.

"Her-mio-ne," Willow repeated pulling out all the syllables, so that maybe he could manage to grasp the word. "Yes, I do. It's Willow."

"Wiloo?" Naruto scrunched his face up, realising that he wasn't saying the name correctly. And he seemed mightily pissed off with the fact that he couldn't say it properly. "How do you say it?"

"Wi-ll-ow," she broke it up into smaller sounds so that the boy could grasp it.

"Wi-l-ooow?"

"You can keep calling me Genie if you like," Willow said with a small chuckle. It warmed her heart to hear him attempt to butcher her name. It was nice to even hear her name, but judging from the way Naruto struggled to say her name, she figured it would be best to not tell people her name. No one would be able to say it right, and it had this exotic sound to it.

Her looks made her stand out amongst the other villagers already, adding in an odd name, it just screamed; 'look at me! I'm obviously not from here!' She was shocked that no one had pulled her up on her strange looks yet. She'd yet to see anyone else walking around with red hair – they had pink, purple and blue hair – but no red. Honestly, it was strange. Her eyes to, were much too large and vivid to fit in with the smaller and more slanted eye shapes around here.

It had shocked her that no one had pulled her up on the distinction. Considering she just turned up out of nowhere, it wasn't like she blended in very well. Even her bone structure was slightly off. She had the high cheekbones that all Pure Blood's had, but, she'd yet to find others with distinct cheekbones.

"I'll learn how to say your real name, Nee-Chan, believe it!" Naruto declared, pulled Willow out of her musings about her appearance. A distant smile graced her features, as an arm nudged the other person. Pointing upwards, she saw the expression on her companion alter completely. "It's… orange!"

"And yellow, and pink. All colours that the sky usually isn't… Pretty right?"

Naruto nodded his head energetically, his eyes never leaving the dance of colours across the sky. The pretty colours seemed to have entranced him momentarily. Willow used this chance to glance up at the mixture of colours splayed across her vision. "Hey… Do you believe in Fate, Wiloo-Chan?"

Smirking lips graced the girl's small lips as she listened to the mispronounced name. "No, I don't, at all. Where I'm from we have people who can 'tell' the future you know," she told the boy after a brief moment of hesitation. "But the future is dependent on the choices you make. If you change your mind on something big at last minute, then your future would surely change, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah! That sounds right! Could you see the future too, Nee-Chan!?" Naruto asked with his eyes wide, turning to face her almost like he was itching to ask her what his future would be like. "What happens in my future!? Do I become the Hokage!?"

"I never said that _I _could see the future, silly." Willow rubbed the back of her head, and tried not to pat the kid on the head to put a stop to the disappointed look on his chubby features. "I've seen other people do it though. They could only really see yours and the decisions of others around you. They can't be seen until you've decided to do those things, though. Naruto… If you put in the work and you keep going the way that you are, then you know the answer to that question already."

Naruto nodded his head, determined a sunny smile breaking its way onto his face. "I think I understand. You can make your own fate, is that it? Yeah, I am going to be Hokage! Cause' I'm not gonna let anyone stop me! Believe it!"

Willow laughed at him lightly, a soft look crossing her features. If she never managed to get back to England, then she was sure she was going to be fine, as long as she got to stay with Naruto. She wasn't going to stop trying, but… "I always will, believe you that is. It's what big sisters are for, after all. Now, come on, let's go have breakfast. I'm making waffles!"

"Yes!" Naruto fist bumped the air wildly. His eyes looked suspiciously watery. "Genie-Land food!"

* * *

**Naruto POV  
Training Ground Seven**

* * *

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and he glared down the white-haired man the stood opposite him in the same position. Twin confused eyes darted between the feuding Ninja, wondering who was going to win this battle of wills.

"I'm your teacher," The eldest of the group proclaimed, like that should solve the problem they were having. Eyes shifted to Naruto to see how he would react to the statement.

"I still want a D-Rank," Naruto rebuffed, not caring in the slightest. "Plus, your training is boring!"

Kakashi-Sensei sighed dramatically, moving to run his hand through his hair, giving Naruto a mournful stare. Naruto was sure that Sensei was pouting under his mask, but he wasn't really too sure. "I only want what's _best_ for my adorable students-."

"No you don't," Naruto cut him off, his finger cleaving the space between them in two. "You just can't be bothered supervising us!"

Kakashi-Sensei muttered something under his breathe that he didn't really catch but sounded suspiciously like, 'avoiding the Hokage, technically.' But why would Kakashi-Sensei be avoiding the Hokage of all people? He must have misheard.

"I was going to reward you for your great work in training, but if you don't want the reward, then I guess…" Kakashi trailed off, looking mournfully at Sasuke. Naruto's eyes widened when he realised that he was going to use his Team Mate against him! No! Sasuke! Bastard, don't fall for it!

Sasuke perked up at the mention of 'reward'. "What kind of 'reward'?" Sasuke questioned, ignoring Naruto's glare.

"We don't want your stinking reward-," Naruto started to snap, before Sasuke cut him off, apparently not caring about what the blonde had to say.

"-Last time you rewarded us, we spent an hour tied to a post in the middle of the lake."

Kakashi waved both the Genin off easily. "That was a _punishment_, Sasuke-Kun. I really need to buy you a dictionary. I was thinking of a real reward, something only Hinata-Chan has managed to get, so far."

Hinata squeaked and pointed to herself like she couldn't believe what Sensei was saying. What was something that Sensei had given Hinata that she hadn't given him or Sasuke…. A Jutsu? Naruto's eyes widened and he stared as his now smiling Sensei. Seriously, the eye smiles were kind of creepy.

Sasuke's eyes darted between Hinata and Sensei, until realization dawned upon him as well. "I guess, if you'd prefer a D-Rank, then I have to oblige."

"No!" Naruto yelled, deciding a Jutsu was way cooler than a silly D-Rank. "We want the reward!"

A silver eyebrow was raised in mild amusement. "I thought you didn't want my 'stinking reward'."

"I changed my mind," Naruto snapped. "People do that all the time."

Kakashi-Sensei was smiling again. A puff of annoyance made its way from him. Why was his teacher so damn annoying? What would it be like to have a _normal _teacher? "Do we all agree then? No D-Rank?"

"Yes," three voices rung out in perfect unison. Huh, that was kinda cool.

"What are you teaching us?" Naruto started to bounce, his previous bad mood all but dissolving with the promise of a cool Jutsu. "Something cool, ooh! Something that explodes!?"

Kakashi chuckled fondly. "What do you guys want? I'll be sure to oblige! Something different for each one of you, even."

How oddly nice of Kakashi-Sensei! Naruto thought about what he wanted Kakashi-Sensei to teach him. Something that explodes? Oh, maybe the wall Hinata could do? Why didn't he just get Hinata to teach that to him, that way, he could get two things to learn! Filling that away for after practice, Naruto kept thinking about something he could want.

"I want a Fire Jutsu, I don't really care what," Sasuke started, nodding his head. "Something that I can use in conjunction with my Fireball Technique."

Naruto started to ponder what he could do to get Sasuke to teach him his Fireball Technique. Bribery? Blackmail? Maybe a trade? But what would he have to trade with? Kakashi nodded his head. "I can give you something like that easily. Hinata-Chan?"

Hinata bit her lower lip, she must be thinking as hard as Naruto was! "I, uh um, well… Could I learn maybe, something offensive with the earth Techniques you were showing me… like um… spikes, or something?"

Kakashi nodded his head sagely. "Repeat after me, Hinata-Chan," Hinata nodded her head unsurely. "Teach me the Earth Spikes Technique, Kakashi-Sensei."

"T-Teach me the Earth Spikes Technique, Kakashi-Sensei," Hinata repeated with a tad more confidence than her first attempt a bright pink spillage colouring her features.

"Much better, Naruto-Kun? Something that explodes?" His teacher questioned, his bright happy-go-lucky attitude returning.

Naruto's face was scrunched up in confusion, maybe he shouldn't go for something like that... Maybe, uh… "Na, I want to learn another Clone Technique. Something I dunno, solid?"

Kakashi paused for a moment before he nodded his head slowly. "Yes, I can do that. We'll have to have a talk first though. I can teach Sasuke his first, then have him practice it against Hinata's Earth Wall Technique while we have the conversation."

Naruto nodded his head, as did his Team Mates. Spiting up, Naruto sat down and watched as Kakashi-Sensei began to explain the basics of Sasuke's new Technique to the black-haired boy. Naruto let his mind wonder. He wanted to learn a different clone Jutsu, whilst it sounded kinda boring to him – he felt it's what Nee-Chan and Iruka-Sensei would both tell him to learn.

It was the one Academy Justu he couldn't do. Yet, he passed the exam with a perfect score using that Jutsu. He knew it was because of his wish, but Naruto felt really bad about lying to Iruka-Sensei like that. Naruto was also starting to feel a little bit bad about cheating. He didn't regret wishing to pass, because now he knew he never would have passed any other way – plus, he might even have a different team!

How odd would that be? He couldn't imagine having his tem a different way, who would he be with? Kiba and Sakura? Maybe Shikamaru and Ino? Naruto liked his Team. Hinata was quiet and strange, but she was a cool Team Mate, and he knew she'd teach him the techniques that Sensei had taught her. Sasuke wasn't too bad either. He was a bit less of a bastard without his Fan Girls around.

Still, he was growing up enough to realise that maybe the exam was put in place for a reason. Maybe they chose those things he needed to know for a reason. Maybe he needed to be able to make a clone to save Hinata from an evil Ninja and he couldn't make a clone, and Hinata died.

All because Naruto didn't know something he was meant to already know, and be really good at! That was why Naruto wanted to learn a new clone Technique. "Ready to have our talk?" Sensei said slouching onto the grass next to the blonde.

Naruto looked up to Hinata forming iron-hard walls to rebuff the sparks of fire that Sasuke was creating. It looked like fun. "Yep," Naruto said popping the 'p'. "What do you need to tell me, Sensei?"

"The Technique I'm going to teach you is a little bit dangerous, but I know you can handle it," Kakashi confided, and Naruto puffed his chest out in pride. Sensei thought he could handle it even though it was dangerous!

"It's dangerous for two reasons, one, it takes a lot of chakra to use this – so your Team Mates won't be able to do it," he warned. "You have quite a bit of it. But don't make more than five. Until we test it, okay?"

"Okay," Naruto nodded his head, determined.

"Next, you get the memories from these clones right? So, if you wanted to use them to spy, you would remember what the clones would hear. Cool right?" Kakashi said, and Naruto grinned wide. That really was super cool!

"Yeah! That's wicked!" Naruto chanted, using one of Nee-Chan's favourite expressions.

"No, it's not," Kakashi suddenly changed his opinion. Naruto gave him a confused look. "If you make say, ten, and then dispel them all at the same time – you get all the memories at once. Can you imagine how much that will hurt your head?"

"A lot?" Naruto asked, slowly, wondering what kind of technique his teacher was going to teach him.

Kakashi nodded his head. "A hell of a lot. One more thing… Please, don't tell the Hokage I taught you. Blame Gai."

…Huh?

* * *

**Willow POV**

**Ichiraku Ramen**

* * *

Willow had started a mantra of 'only two more weeks,' and, 'don't commit homicide'. Her eye was twitching rather violently, and she decided that her next job would have nothing to do with food. Maybe, she'd work in a bookstore. That way she could spent most of the day reading.

Maybe she'd work in childcare, she could see herself doing that – she did like kids. She couldn't stand them for more than a few hours at a time though. She was glad Naruto had toned it down a few notches after she met him, but Naruto was different.

It wasn't like she could go with her old career. It wasn't like anyone needed a Magical Creature Rights Activist. There was no Professional Seeker spots open here. There were no Aurors. She had no idea what to do in a world like this.

Still. Not food. No more food, or Hospitality.

"_Genie-San, do you mind sweeping the floors?"_

"_Can you clean the tables please, Genie-San?"_

"_Ground the Miso, Genie-San."_

Maybe, she just didn't like working. Maybe. Willow sighed as soon as the customer stood up, paying for his food and left the stall. Working on a strict muscle memory. She grabbed the half-filled bowl, and carefully tipped the broth down the sink and threw the noodles into the bin, before stacking the bowl in the sink to clean when there was a few more.

She wiped down the bench, and chair. It was boring, she realised. She was bored doing the job she got because she was bored. How was that for irony?

"My darling flower!"

Merlin. She'd prefer to be bored. With a groan, Willow fixed a smile onto her face – dear Merlin was she getting good at that, and she turned to greet Gai. She really shouldn't be too upset with his appearance, in honesty, it had just been a long day. Plus, it wasn't even eleven yet.

"Good Morning, Gai. How's your day been?" Willow greeted with the all-too-fake smile plastered onto her features.

"It is a fine morning for the training of our next generation," he responded brightly. "I was unaware you worked in this fine establishment!" he looked over towards the old creaking chairing and the growing stack of dishes on the sink.

She really should start those.

"It's temporary," she explained, gently wondering if he'd stop shouting if she asked him too. Naruto responded well to the reprimand, but Naruto was a good fifteen years younger than Gai.

Gai nodded his head eagerly, smiling at her – a smile that sent her temporarily blind. How did he get his teeth so white? "Has my training of your younger brother been satisfactory, Genie-Chan? Have I earned the much sought after youthful dinner yet?"

A green eye twitched. Genie-Chan. Merlin damn it, Naruto! It was going to stick, she was now reigned. She may as well just start introducing herself as Genie now. She'd just told the kid about her real name too, granted, he couldn't pronounce it. But… still!

"I've displeased you!" Gai wailed so loudly that Willow jumped and the customer in the booth nearest to her glared at them heatedly. "My most humble and sincere apologies! I shall strive to do better! I will get Naruto-Kun on par with Lee in a month!" Gai proclaimed, blowing things completely out of proportion.

"Shh!" The customer, an older (obviously quite irritable) lady snapped.

"I'm sorry fine customer of this establishment!" Gai continued in his extremely loud voice, tears streaming down his face. When did that happen? "I have failed in my pursuit of youthful teaching!"

"Gai, you haven't failed-," Willow attempted to sooth him and quieten him, shooting a look at the much-too-interested Teuchi.

"You are really the sweetest flower! I promise I will work harder to obtain your love!" Gai declared loudly, tears gone and an iron resolve playing happily across his face. "If I fail, I will run one hundred-, no! One thousand and one laps around Konoha, on my hands! Backwards! Whilst playing a harmonica!"

"That's really not necessary-," Willow attempted again but it was too late, as Gai had flounced out of the stand leaving Willow to deal with the glaring old lady.

"You should really keep your personal life out of the workplace, it's unprofessional," the woman snipped at the red-head, causing her shoulders to deflate. It seriously wasn't her fault…

Knowing what the owner, and her boss, who was watching the situation like a hulk would say – Willow sucked up her pride. Damn Gai. "I'm sorry, Mrs. I'll endeavour to not let it happen again."

It was a lie. Willow Faye Potter was an official lair. Merlin. She disliked people.

* * *

**Willow POV**

**Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

"Nee-Chan!" a panicked voice yelled, pulling her out of her little doze by the window in cat-form. _"Nee-Chan! Help!"_

With a purr, Willow transformed back into a human. She actually loved being a cat some days, it was pretty fun. Plus, all the cat-Willow wanted to do was snooze by the sun – which was fine with her. _"Nee-Chaaaaaan!"_

Sighing at the panicked tone, Willow started to follow the panicked yells. They lead her to the kitchen where the floor was partially flooded. Green eyes darted towards the only other person in the room whose face was lined with panic as he held out a pipe that she was sure should not have been in his hand.

Willow looked over at the little cupboard door that was left hanging open, and saw that the pipe was meant to go in there. It wasn't there obviously, and it was now leaking copious amounts of water. "I broke it," Naruto's voice held so much terror that the Potter just had to laugh.

There were a few moments where there was nothing but silence. Then she broke into a fit of laughter, the look on the poor boys face was priceless, not to mention, she was really curious about how he'd managed to break it. "Willoo-Chan! It's _not_ funny! Our apartment is flooding!"

"Closer," Willow congratulated amusement still written upon her features. Eyeing the water on the floor that was slowly creeping towards her sock-clad feet. "But it's 'ow', not 'oo'."

"Nee-Chan!" Naruto snapped, shaking the pipe in front of her face almost like he was trying to refocus her. "I don't know how to fix it!"

Willow shrugged her shoulders, it wasn't like she knew how to fix it either. She just need to cast a quick 'repairo' and it should be good as new. "It's not that hard, look, pass it over."

Naruto handed the pipe over to the girl. Willow moved through the water – ew, her poor socks! And placed it where it should be after a bit of difficulty. A quick repairo and everything should be fine. Except… it didn't work. Willow pulled the pipe back and realised that there was a chip of the pipe missing. The spell wouldn't work if there was a piece missing.

"Eh, Naruto where's the missing bit?" Turning the pipe over until the missing piece was visible to the other occupant of the room. It was quite a big piece missing too, jagged lines carving downwards.

"…Missing bit?" Confusion was laced through his tone, and blonde eyebrows drew themselves together in panic.

Willow blinked once, twice… Okay, she needed to keep calm, which was an increasingly hard task considering that her feet were getting progressively wetter and think of a rational solution… "Wanna move houses?"

"Nee-Chan!" Naruto scolded. Willow hung her head, oddly amused by how their roles were changing back and forth. "Can't you fix it?" he added on anxiously.

"I _could, _I mean, I _would, _but…" Willow hesitated for a moment, biting hr lip whilst looking down at the innocent pipe. "A piece is missing and I can't put it back together without the missing piece…"

"Where's the missing piece?"

"I'm not sure. If I knew it wouldn't be missing, would it?" she challenged raising her eyebrow, with a smirk. "How about you tell me how this all started, eh?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "I threw the potato peels down the sink-," Willow groaned at this, and Naruto rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Then, the water wouldn't drain in the sink – so I figured that I blocked the pipe and I had to clean it. So… I tried to get it open but I couldn't so I got my Shadow Clone to help me, but we accidently ripped it out and the potato was in the pipe, but.. ahhh, the water won't stop!"

"I don't think you were meant to use Shadow Clones to unblock the sink," Willow peering at the sink, seeing it still in perfect condition. "For future reference, dishwashing soap should dissolve something stuck in the pipe. You don't need to take it out."

"Oh," Naruto said in a small voice.

"Well, now that's out of the way…" She quietly banished the water on the ground and cast a drying charm on both of them. Heaven, she loved wandless magic. Next she stuffed the pipe to stop the water leaking out.

"We need a new pipe," she decided nodding her head slowly, turning the broken one over in her hands. "Know where the Plumbers are?"

"Nope," Naruto shook his head sheepishly.

"Points like this, I wish this universe had phones."

"…Nee-Chan, what's a phone?" Naruto asked innocently.

Willow gave Naruto the most serious look she could muster. "A magical device that lets you communicate with people that are countries away, like they are standing right next to you."

"Amazing!" Naruto breathed with wide eyed. "I want a phone!"

* * *

**Naruto POV**

**Training Ground Seven**

* * *

"Hey, Hinata-Chan, um, can you wait a second?" The amount of nerves the boy was showing had shocked even him. His entire Team looked at him strangely. Sensei had just dismissed them, and was about to do his usual disappearing trick, but stopped to look at him strangely. Honestly, wanting to talk to Hinata-Chan wasn't that shocking, was it?

Hinata went bright red, fidgeting with her sleeves. "U-u-um, I – ah, yes. O-of course," she stuttered, it was the worst her stuttering had ever been since she joined Team Seven. "N-Na-Naruto-Kun," she mumbled his name, her slight frame shaking slightly.

"Ma, Naruto, don't frighten your team mates, it's not nice," Kakashi-Sensei scolded with a faux-reprimanding tone. He shook his finger in front of his face, cheerfully.

Naruto rolled his eyes with a huff, and crossed his arms over his chest in frustration. "Jeez, Sensei. I just wanted to ask her a question."

"A-a-a question?" Hinata mumbled, almost as if to herself. Her eyes clouded slightly, like she was wondering over what he needed to ask her about.

Sasuke-Bastard just shrugged his shoulder, with his typical 'I couldn't care less' expressions on his face before he turned on the heel of his foot and left the Training Grounds. The boy didn't take one look backwards. Sensei then shrugged and gave them a cheerful wave. "Don't have too much fun!" he warned laughing, he gave them both a wink before his disappeared.

Hinata started to twitch oddly after Sensei had said that. Naruto frowned, what the hell did Sensei mean by that? Brushing it off, and adding a reminder in his mind to ask Nee-Chan later, Naruto refocused on Hinata. "Hey Hinata-Chan, I was wondering if you could teach me the Jutsu's that Sensei taught you? That way we can both be kick arse Ninja's together!"

"O-oh," Hinata said, looking slightly embarrassed.

"You don't have to," Naruto quickly added, a little bit disappointed by Hinata's lack of a reaction. "I thought it'd be cool to train with you. But it's okay! Don't worry about it!" He gave her his best reassuring smile and handed over a thumbs up.

"N-no! I mean, of course! S-Sensei won't mind… will he?" She queried nervously, looking around the trees like Sensei would jump out of them and start to yell at them.

"Na, I don't think so. He told me that I wasn't allowed to teach you guys the Shadow Clones because you didn't have enough chakra. So I think he thinks that were already teaching each other," Naruto said nodding his head. "At least, that's what Nee-Chan seems to think."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, unbothered by the idea. "We can practice after training, if you want? Do you have the time to?"

"After training is f-fine Naruto-Kun," a small smile splaying across the girl's delicate features, the pink colour still hadn't left her cheeks though. "D-do you w-w-w-w-want to start now?"

Her face was bright red again by this point, and she was holding her cheeks with her hands. Naruto blinked, man, Hinata was _really_ odd. Nevertheless, Naruto's face broke out into a grin. "Yeah! Let's start with the Wall one! You're really, _really_ good at that one!"

"T-thank you, Naruto-Kun!" It almost looked like she was going to burst out into tears because of his words. Naruto faltered slightly, had he offended her!?

"I'm sorry!" Naruto said intently. He didn't want Hinata to think that he was being mean to her. "I-I didn't mean to make you cry!"

Hinata blinked back her tears. "I – It wasn't you, N-Naruto-Kun," she bowed her head down. "I'm j-just not used to p-people complementing, my, uh, my Jutsu u-use."

"Ah," Naruto said, a frown marring his features. He knew what that felt like. It was a crappy feeling. He didn't really have to feel it very much anymore, Nee-Chan made sure that everything he managed to do got praise. She was really amazing. Maybe he should make Nee-Chan have a conversation with Hinata, and she'd feel better – like he did! "Alright then! Where do we start, Hinata-Sensei!"

Said girl dissolved into another bright red mess. Jeez, girls were strange! After a few hours, Naruto was really tired with all the training that he went through. He went through Gai, Kakashi and now Hinata. He really didn't think he could train much more. He glanced over at Hinata, knowing that she wasn't as tired as he was.

"Neh, Hinata-Chan, do you think we can keep going tomorrow? I'm super tired!" Almost on command, Naruto let out a loud yawn. He swung his arm out behind his back, hearing a satisfying 'crack'. He'd managed to get the start of a little wall going, but it wasn't that strong, and Hinata-Chan could break it down with a small flick of her finger.

"O-of course, Naruto-Kun!" She bowed her head down. "I hope we can continue training tomorrow. It's been v-very beneficial!"

Naruto grinned. "Of course! We should do it every time Sensei gives us a new Jutsu, that way, we can all grow! It'll be fun! Anyway…" Naruto paused for a moment. "Did you want to have something to eat? Nee-Chan makes the strangest food, you should try some!"

Hinata hesitated slightly, looking at the darkening sky – like she was considering it, but wasn't very sure. "S-s-sure," she stuttered, looking almost nervous.

"Great!" he cheered, grabbing a pale hand and dragging her across the training field. "Come on, she hates it when I'm late~!"

"O-oh, are you s-sure it's okay if I come?" a nervous voice asked, running at full speed to catch up with the 'tired' boy.

"She won't care," he hummed, coming to a stop in front of a tall apartment complex. "She always makes enough for like six people. Says it's 'habit' or something."

"Oh," Hinata was red again. Maybe it was sort of like, her normal shade. With a shrug, which did appear a tad out of place, he marched forward, letting go of the girl's hand. The blue haired girl followed behind Naruto silently. Going up at least seven flights of stairs, they were finally at his and Nee-Chan's apartment.

Naruto opened the unlocked door. Naruto was glad that Nee-Chan never seemed to lock the door, he could never seem to remember where he kept the key. With a pause, he held the door open for Hinata-Chan, it seemed like something Nee-Chan would tell him to do.

"Thank you," she squeaked as she walked into his apartment. Her eyes widened as she entered the spotless and shining room. Naruto couldn't help that Nee-Chan was a clean freak. She made him clean all the time, but he figured that she did clean as well, although, he had a sneaking suspicion that she used her Genie-powers to clean when he wasn't there.

"Are you home, Nee-Chan!?" Naruto called out, entering the room after Hinata.

"Yep!" the red-haired woman popped out of the kitchen, which made Naruto wonder if she'd managed to fix that silly pipe. "Guess what I got!?" she presented him with a spiky looking plant, which was all green with a tiny red part coming off it. It looked like it would be painful if he touched it.

"What is it?" Naruto asked curiously. It was obviously some sort of plant, he guessed.

"I-i-i-it's a cactus," Hinata injected, looking very, very nervous about the prospect of talking in front of Willoo-Chan.

"Sure is! Hello, Hinata-Chan! How are you?" Nee-Chan gave her a soft smile, like she was reassuring her that it was alright to speak. She was so smart, how did she realise that Hinata was uncomfortable!? Maybe it was the stuttering, but Nee-Chan was always really good at making people feel more comfortable.

"I'm w-well, Genie-San."

"That's wonderful! Are you joining us for dinner? We're having Sukiyaki," Nee-Chan made a face after she'd said this. "I've never made it before, so I can't really vouch for how it tastes, but," she shrugged her shoulders. "It looks good enough."

"You made it without me!?" Naruto pouted. "You always make new stuff with me!"

She shrugged. "Someone was late," she placed the cactus on the table that was situated in front of the door. Pushing the strange plant to the middle of the table. It made the table look really cool.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Oops."

Nee-Chan shook her head fondly. "Why don't you go wash your hands, both of you? It'll be all ready by the time you come back."

"Okay, Nee-Chan!" he chirped, tuning to face Hinata. "The bathrooms over here," he walked over to the second door leading off his tiny apartment. He opened the door to the white room, and turned on the tap quickly washing his hands, before moving out of the way so that Hinata could use the sink as well.

When they finished, they both tugged back to the table, sitting down. Naruto looked at the cactus-plant oddly. A few moments later, Nee-Chan re-entered the room, three plates balanced on one arm (how cool was that!?) and a few pairs of chopsticks held in her other hand.

"Neh, Nee-Chan," Naruto began when she put the plates down in front of them. "Where's you get the Cactus-Plant from?"

"Huh? Oh. A customer gave it to me, strange huh?" she laughed a little bit bemused, breaking apart her chopsticks. "Normally my tips are money," she muttered. "Anyway, what were you two doing this afternoon?"

"Hinata-Chan was teaching me the kickarse Jutsu that Sensei taught her," Naruto's eyes lit up. "It was so fun."

"That's nice, I hope he didn't annoy you too much Hinata," Willoo-Chan sounded very amused.

"Hey!" Naruto retaliated.

"H-he was very kind, thank you, Genie-S-S-San."

"I'm glad," she laughed, stabbing her food instead of picking up normally. She was so odd with her chopsticks. Naruto didn't think he'd ever seen her use them properly.

"Hey, hey, Nee-Chan. I've got a question. Sensei said to 'not have too much fun' when he left me and Hinata-,"

"Hinata and I," she chided.

"Right," he nodded. "Hinata and I at the Training Ground. What do ya think he meant?"

To Naruto's shock, both Nee-Chan and Hinata went lightly pink at his words. What was with girls? Why were they so strange!?

"It meant nothing," she finally answered resolutely.

"But-,"

"Nothing."

* * *

**Naruto POV**

**Training Grounds Nine**

* * *

Naruto was practically skipping to Gai's training this morning. He was so happy to be out of his apartment. The floors were still flooding and Nee-Chan hadn't thought of a way to fix it other than using her Genie powers to get rid of the water. He didn't like his feet soaking in water, thank you very much.

When Naruto finally got to the training ground, he saw Gai but no Lee. Naruto wasn't sure he should approach the man either, so his steps faltered. Brows-Sensei, who had been sitting in a meditative position, suddenly opened his dark eyes and fixed Naruto with quite a scary look.

"Brows-Sensei?" Naruto began, very unsure of himself all of a sudden. "Are you okay?"

"My training of you hasn't been in vain, but it is never enough. I apologise to you, Naruto-Kun, for not taking you in for as much training as I could impart onto you!" Gai-Sensei was…crying? Naruto sighed, why was this man always so over dramatic? "I will do better, and fulfil my promise to your sister and ensure you on par with Lee in a month!"

Crazy Brows promised what, to who now? Naruto felt the growing urge to back away from the man slowly. He did not need this, Kakashi-Sensei was bad enough. But Kakashi-Sensei and Gai both kicking his training into overdrive? He wasn't going to last! He was going to die! Where was Lee!?

"To commemorate this event, I brought you this!" Gai pulled something out from behind him. Naruto's eyes widened at the sight of the jumpsuit that both Gai and Lee wore, except the one key difference. It was orange! The blonde grinned at the older man happily.

"Thanks Brows-Sensei! I'll wear it every day!"

Gai nodded his head, happiness leaking out of his eyes in the form of more tears. "I hope it brings with it, the youth of a hundred men! I have a little surprise for you today, instead of sparring with Lee every day, I will have a strew of young talented Ninja sparring with you and Lee daily to improve your technique!"

Naruto's shoulders dropped slightly and he clutched the jumpsuit to his chest like it would save him from this battle. He was going to die! Die! "Meet Tenten-Chan! My last youthful student!"

Naruto's eyes nervously followed the line of Gai's sight to a girl that look like she was a few years older than he was, with twin brown buns on the top of her head. The girls' brown eyes were locked on the jumpsuit that he was clutching tightly in his arms. The look in her eyes made Naruto take a step back.

"E-eh, say Brows-Sensei…."

"Let the fight begin!" Gai yelled over Naruto's timid remark. Before he knew what was happening, Naruto was being used as a pin cushion. Seriously, he couldn't anticipate the sharp objects that came flying his way. Why were there so many?!

Naruto had to throw his neat new jumpsuit away from his person, just so he didn't accidentally rip the fabric. It was so bright, and kind of cool – he was wary about wearing in front of Kakashi-Sensei (because his teacher was crazy) but he didn't want to offend Gai by not wearing it. Naruto sighed – being a ninja was hard work.

"I see what Neji meant, you have great dodging capabilities," the girl praised, a wide and terrifying grin encompassed her face. "This is going to be fun!"

Naruto didn't seem to understand Buns-Chan's idea of fun. He opened his mouth to tell her as such. "That's not really that fun, is it…? Buns-Chan?"

Only the girls face to twist around again, this time portraying her anger and disgust. "My names not Buns'-Chan. It's Tenten!"

* * *

**Willow POV**

**Konoha Main Road**

* * *

"Stop fidgeting, you look silly," the red haired girl commented dryly to the boy dressed to the T in a bright orange jumpsuit. It reminded her of the one Gai wore, and she had no idea what possessed the man to give the blonde boy something like this.

"It's uncomfortable," Naruto complained, adjusting the sleeves for the fifth time.

Willow rolled her eyes slapping his hand away from his sleeve. Honestly. "Why are you wearing it then? You have more comfortable clothes."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "I didn't want to upset Brows'-Sensei," he explained, fidgeting with the sleeve still. Willow slapped his hand away from the sleeve with a sharp look. "I know he's got a C Rank but still. Hey, why don't we get a C Rank? Lee said it wasn't even their first C-Rank. I want a mission! Sensei always distracts us!"

Willow nodded her head, not actually catching half of what the boy was talking about. C Rank? That was a type of mission, that Gai's team apparently had – and Naruto wanted. Willow gave the boy a small smile, not knowing how to respond to the boys' complaints. "You'll get one soon," she simply replied.

What did one of these missions even entitle? With a sigh, she realised she still had quite a bit to learn about this universe. They were walking along the road to drop Naruto off for Team Training before she made her way to her last shift (heavens yes) at the Ramen stand. Willow realised it was early, but not the time that the blonde hellion was used to being awake.

She knew he was cherishing the little sleep-in, she knew it. Willow started to smile when Naruto's eyes started to twitch randomly. He had been staring off into space, and she was kind of curious about what he could be thinking of that had annoyed him to such an extent.

The two stumbled across the bridge where Willow would leave her young charge, only to see his two Team Mates sitting down, half asleep. Privately, Willow didn't understand the point of making these kids wake up so early when they clearly weren't going to get much out of it. "Hey Hinata-Chan… Bastard," Naruto greeted cheerfully as ever.

"Good Morning, Naruto-Kun, Genie-San," Hinata greeted back, a pink tinge appearing to her checks when her light coloured eyes strayed over Naruto. Did she have a little crush on the boy? That was kind of cute!

Sasuke merely grunted at the two newcomers, before opening his eyes slowly to eye Naruto with distaste. "What the hell are you wearing idiot?"

Naruto frowned. "It was a present from Gai-Sensei." He said that like it would explain everything.

Willow raised an eyebrow at the lack of togetherness she saw within this team. She kind of assumed they'd all be together, and pretty good friends. It didn't look like they were friends in any sense of the word. It really wasn't her place to comment – she kept telling herself.

In in instant, there was a puff of smoke billowing over the side of the bridge left empty by the Ninja – and most likely for this very reason, and through it appeared their Teacher. Willow blinked, it was like a less efficient and more noticeable way of Apperating. What was this Chakra the ninja seemed to have, and how was it different to her magic?

What a curious thought.

The one-eyed man locked eyes with Naruto, and Willow left the atmosphere fall down several notches. "It's started… It's… escalating. It's…. getting worse for you today my minions, double the amount of work we normally do!" He sounded almost as if he was on the edge of a mental breakdown. "I blame this on you," Kakashi's eye flickered over to her as she placed a hand over her chest, as if to say; 'me?'

"Don't blame me for your mid-life crisis," Willow remarked offhandedly, ruffling Naruto's hair to ease the boy of his suddenly stricken expression. "I have to go to work, have fun, Naruto."

Willow started to walk away after saying a quick goodbye to the other Ninja, Naruto calling out after her. "Take me with you!"

Willow chuckled, but what made her laugh more was the icy comment of; "I'm only 26, dammit."

Right. He was only 26, and so was she – of course. Willow rolled her eyes as she strolled from the group stationed by the bridge. She did hope that the kid wasn't pushed too hard today, he always came back to the Apartment looking like he'd been through a war.

A sigh of amazement at the kid's sheer determination to get better, and the Witch had practically found herself at the Ramen stand. It was her last day – no more days, no more rude customers. Holy Merlin, was Willow looking forward to this day!

She entered the small stand with a wide grin on her face, directed at her temporary boss. "You're in a good mood today, Genie-San," he greeted with an overly welcoming smile.

"I had a great night's sleep," she said as she ducked behind the counter to tie the apron around her waist. "And I never have to serve another person again, after this."

Tecuhi chuckled at her, placing his hand on her shoulder with a friendly grin. "It's not an easy job. I do thank you very much for helping me out in my time of need though. If you ever need anything, I'd be more than happy to oblige. I'll even give Naruto a discount, eh? Might ease the pain of the kid's obsession!"

She laughed lightly at his last word. "I don't think 'obsession' is a strong enough word, to be completely honest."

She still couldn't wait to find a new job!

* * *

**Training Grounds 7**

**Naruto POV**

* * *

"No."

"Ye-,"

"No."

"I said-,"

"No."

Sensei sighed at the orange clad-Ninja. Naruto was holding his ground this time. His arms were crossed over his chest, and his glare was firmly in place. What was more amazing, was the fact that his Team was actually backing him up for once. Sasuke stood to his left, a similar position to the one Naruto himself was in, and Hinata to his right – nervously playing his her sleeves, but still on his side. Which is what counted, really.

"I'm you-,"

"I don't care."

Kakashi Hatake sighed loudly, but the blonde was not to be deterred this time. "You didn't even let me finish," the older man complained. Naruto knew that the tone of voice his Sensei was using was pretty much put on, he knew that Sensei didn't really care that much that he was cutting him off. "I have reasons-."

"Don't care," Naruto said stoutly.

His Sensei sighed again, and then paused for a few moments, his eyes glancing to his other two students. "It's nice to see you guys united, almost like a _real_ team!"

"T-that's not g-going to work, S-S-Sensei," Hinata proclaimed, face going completely red, but she stood straight, eyes locked with their teacher. Naruto was surprised that she'd spoken up.

"What won't work, Hinata-Chan?" Kakashi was smiling.

"The distraction technique," Sasuke snapped, his hands balling into fists. "What's the point in all this training, if we can't test ourselves in the field?"

Kakashi-Sensei sighed, for some reason, an aura of depression had befallen his teacher. "Fine. We'll go get a C-Rank…"

Naruto's mouth dropped open, his eyes were wide as saucers. He couldn't believe that this had actually worked! "Really!?"

* * *

**Naruto POV**

**The Hokage's Office**

* * *

Naruto strolled through the doors of the Hokage's office happy, but not without a tinge of confusion. He was happy because he was finally getting a C-Rank, really, they had waited too long, but confused because well… Kakashi-Sensei was hiding behind him. Cowering, seemed to be the more appropriate word, technically.

Sensei had said something about a 'student-shield' and 'Hokage's favourite' before telling Naruto that he needed to cover for him. Naruto still wasn't sure he really understood what was happening. The second they walked through the doors though, the Hokage was looking at Naruto – with a hard look, which kind of scared him a bit. It took him a bit to realise that the Hokage's glare wasn't directed at him, at all. But towards Kakashi-Sensei! Maybe this was why Sensei didn't want to get a mission for them…

"Long time, no see, Hatake," The Hokage ground out, irritation leaking into his voice. Naruto suddenly felt nervous. "Hello Team Seven."

Hinata ducked her head, all confidence she'd previously been feeling escaping the small girl. Naruto felt she was the only one not cowed by the Hokage's irritation. "We're here for a C-Rank, Old Man!" Naruto explained, not without a few dramatic hand gestures.

"Are you?" A white eyebrow rose from the old mans' eye.

"Yes, sir," Kakashi's voice, a few octaves quieter than it normally was, rung out from behind Naruto. What the hell was up with his Sensei!?

The Hokage's eyes were narrowed at the man cowering behind Naruto. The said boy was wondering what on earth the man had pulled to get him into so much trouble… "Alright. I _trust_ your _judgement_, Hatake."

Was he being sarcastic? Nee-Chan was explaining that concept to him, but Naruto wasn't really sure if he understood it. After all, why say something if you really didn't mean it at all?

"I have a mission here, a guard needed for a bridge builder travelling to Wave," The Hokage finally said after a few moments pause his expression lightening. Naruto figured that Sensei was meant to respond, but he never did. It was kind of uncool of Sensei. "Bring in Tazuna."

Naruto suddenly didn't care about the fact that Sensei was using him as a shield anymore. He was about to meet his first real Client! He was taking his first major mission! This was the best! The doors that they'd just entered through, suddenly slid open again revealing an old man – that even from where Naruto was standing, he could smell the liquor coming off him.

Naruto wrinkled his nose at the smell coming off the man. Naruto hated drunks. Drunks were violent. Drunks threw things at unsuspecting nine year olds. The man's beady black eyes focused on the group of Ninja in front of him, a frown marring his olden features. "This is the team you've assigned to me?"

"I assure you, our Team Seven is perfectly capable of guarding you," The Hokage said briskly, moving some papers on his desk, like he was looking for something else, not at all bothered by the progression.

"Are you sure? That one is cowering behind the short one, with a stupid face. How can he protect someone?" Tazuna insulted. Naruto knew who was talking about intently, he may be short… but he didn't have a stupid face!

"I don't have a stupid face, you old Drunk!" Naruto yelled, pointing dramatically at him. He was so annoyed. Why did this guy have to be his first Client!?

Sensei prodded him in the back with his finger. But Naruto didn't take the subtle warning to shut up. "I'm the world renowned Bridge Builder Tazuna. I need top grade protection, so that I can finish my task building the bridge connecting Wave! An important task, are you sure you can handle that?!" Tazuna challenged Naruto, almost like he wanted Naruto to back down.

"We can protect you, so much so, that you won't even get a single scratch! Don't doubt me, I'm going to be the Hokage! Believe it!" Naruto yelled, his hand forming a fist that he hit his chest with – as a warning. He heard his Sensei groan from behind him, and he felt the man nudge him again. Naruto ignored him.

"Shut up, idiot," Sasuke grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"Don't tell me what to do, you bastard!" Naruto yelled again, this time turning his ire towards his male teammate. His eyes were narrowed into slits, but Sasuke had his whole 'I don't care what you think' look on his face. Man, why was his black haired teammate such a prick?!

The Bridge Builder took this time to address the Hokage. "Can I request another Team?"

The Hokage sighed. "Team Seven is fully qualified to protect you during this mission, Tazuna-San. If you want another Team, you'll have to pay for a separate mission."

A faint flicker of doubt crossed the Bridge Builder's face, and Naruto knew if he caught it, then everyone else in the room had caught it as well. Why did this old man think that Naruto couldn't protect him?! He'd trained really hard! He could do this! "They'll do then… I guess…"

Naruto huffed; this was going to be a really boring mission. He just knew it.

* * *

**A/N – Hey guys, what did you think? Is there something you want to see happen in here? Because if you do, just tell me in a Review, I might not respond to them all, but I do read them all, and they put this massive grin on my face every time I read them. So thank you to all of you who read this, thank you to those who favourite/follow and thank you to all those who review.**

**I just wanted to say… I've hit 200 over reviews! You guys rock! I'm so surprised by how much you guys like this, like, wooow! Amazing! **

**Anyway, the Wave Arc begins the next chapter, and with it, brings a whole lot of new problems and issues. I almost felt like it was too early for the Wave Arc, but I decided to bring it in anyway. It was meant to be set quite early in the Anime. Rest assured though, it won't be anything like your expecting. **

**Love you all! Stay amazing! ;) **

_**~ Akari! xx**_


	7. Chapter 7

**Ain't Never Had A Friend Like Me**

* * *

**Ginny Weasley POV**

**Arabia**

* * *

Ginny Wealsey was not a happy camper. She did not want to go to a place that was as illogically minded as Arabia. She did not want to miss the summer training camp that the Harpies held every year for previous members of the team, she did not want to lose the edge over her competition that she had. She was a fair flyer, but that didn't mean there wouldn't be fresh new talent that might bowl her over. She did not want to spend her free time with _Draco Bloody Malfoy._

Has it happened though, she did want to find one of her closest friends, and practical sister, really, Willow Potter. If this in any way helped her find the red haired Witch then… It'd be worth it. Ginny had originally believed that Will had actually died in America. That was until the lack of a body was presented to her. Why the hell would the American Ministry refuse to hand over the body of someone as politically important as Willow Potter? That's when the grief she was feeling was thrown to the side momentarily – she loved Willow, they all did.

She didn't want to bear the thought of leaving her _sister_ stranded, and alone. Not if she could help it.

The ginger was going to get to the bottom of this. Even if it meant sitting next to the twitching blonde boy. Dear Merlin, who could actually stand this guy? He was way to quiet! She guessed she got lucky with his silence though. She didn't need to curse him. "This way," Malfoy grabbed her arm. She couldn't stand this place. It was deemed improper for a single women to travel alone, so they had to be 'married'.

It was wearing her down. Also, she had to be covered head to foot, and Merlin Damn. It was _hot_ and the damn clothes were heavy, and she felt nearly suffocated. "You have to be careful with this guy, Malfoy. Hermione said he was a muggle."

Malfoy's defined features twisted into an ugly scowl. Ginny resisted the urge to smack him across the face. She would never understand the Pure Blood bias against Muggles. Maybe it had been the way she'd been raised, with Arthur Weasley as her dad – Muggle lover extreme. But she'd never seen a difference between them. All they had was magic, as wonderful as that was – essentially, they were the same. "Call me Draco," he hissed under his breath, giving her a warning look. "It's not right for a wife to call a husband by his last name! Do you want us to be caught?"

"It is if he's a douche," Ginny muttered under her breath, and Malfoy-…Draco. If she was going to call him that, she'd have to start calling him that in her mind, rolled his grey eyes. "Is this the house?"

It was… a majestic house. It was small, but it was built like a miniature castle. Ginny would've liked to come here if it was for any other reason than the one that she was actually here for. "Yes, it fits the description, let's go."

Ginny didn't need urging, she grabbed the Slytherin's arm and tugged him along the pathway leading to the house. Almost impatiently, she knocked on the door. "Don't forget, women aren't meant to question-," Malfo-…Draco stared to say, only to get cut off by the door swinging open.

Ginny stared at the man that opened the door. He was bald, and at least a head shorter than she was. He had wrinkly skin and dark, beady eyes. It was like they could see right past her and see into the depths of her very soul. The airy clothes he wore were reminded her slightly on the ones that she wore, except, he didn't cover his head like she was meant to. He bowed at the two Hogwarts Alumni standing in his doorway, a knowing smile gracing his features.

Shifting uneasily at the man's presence. She let Mal-…Draco! Take the lead in his questioning. She did – even if he thought she was too stupid to, realise the customs of this place. "Mr. Busiono? My name is Draco Malfoy, and this is my …wife, Ginevra. We wanted to come and ask you a few questions."

Hazel eyes twitched slightly. She absolutely loathed her full name, why he had chosen to use that horrid name was beyond her. Why he actually knew the nauseating word shocked her even further. At the warning look he shot her, Ginny tried to calm herself. Something about it not being right for her to agitated in public? Who even knew? "Of course. Come into my humble home. I'll prepare some tea," he opened the door, and led them into his house with his hand, closing the door behind them.

Hadn't he welcomed them in too… easily?

Mal-Draco's hand was on her lower back, and if was any other time – he'd be on the receiving end of the bat-boogie hex. The two followed Mr Busiono further into his house, only to be lead to a table, which sat low, almost touching the floor. Instead of seats sat brightly coloured pillows for them to seat themselves on.

Ginny followed Ma-Draco's lead and sat down next to him. The Witch watched as the Muggle moved around preparing a pot of tea, before placing it down on the middle of the table, providing three oddly small cups with no handles. Draco didn't move or make any noise, and she was starting to feel a little bit restless. Where was the questioning already!?

The man slowly began to pour the tea, which Draco again, didn't touch. Was this some sort of culture that she'd missed out on? Ginny resisted the urge to sigh and didn't touch the tea either. Even if she was dying of thirst in this heat. Honestly, she'd never known it to ever be this hot, ever.

"My friends, what is it that you require of me?" He took a deep sip of his own tea cup, cupping his hands around the base of the cup. So that's how you were meant to use that oddly shaped cup. Draco followed his lead, and Ginny followed his.

She didn't want to be the reason that this man didn't give them information.

"I'm very interested in certain artefacts," Draco said after a brief pause. "It has been rumoured that you had done extensive research on this one object that I'm particularly curious about."

"What is that artefact, young man?"

"A lamp, that holds a person within it. A person that contains great power," Draco said, a curious glint in his eyes. Placing the cup back down on the dark table. Ginny followed suit.

"I haven't thought much on that object in many years," the man admitted. "There is a story I would like to share with you. A tale about the lamp if you must – a tale about the magic lamp, and its origins. If you'd like to hear of it?"

Very much so! Ginny wanted to say, but instead she remained silent, and Draco hardly even nodded. He certainly didn't look very interested in the story!

"There was once a time, a very long time ago," the man started, his voice was rough and sounded like your foot crunching with gravel, but it captivated her even so. "There was a kind King, who ruled over all those in his Kingdom with a just fairness. It might come as a surprise that he was never attacked by outside forces, never invaded. The King had a prised position. His treasured lamp, it contained a force that no one could ever begin to understand. This force though, could only be used by one that has a pure heart, and pure intentions. The King who had no interest in misusing this power, was allowed to freely access the legendary forces from within."

"Legendary forces?" Ginny blurted out before she could stop herself. Quickly she turned bright red and slapped a hand over her mouth. Please don't be offended.

"I apologise for my wife," Draco said hastily. "She is very interested in anything of a mystical beginning. She sometimes losses her manners."

"It is fine. Young Lady, there is said to be a person that lives in the lamp, a person that holds the power to make anything you wish for to come true. Those in the lamp live a cursed life. They can be in the moral world, as you or I, if the owner of the lamp wishes it to be. They were to be bound in a way that connects their very souls," the man whispered, and Ginny refrained from interrupting again. "The King was good friends with this being, there was hardly a day that they could ever be seen apart, alas, one day they got into a terrible argument. The kind old King ordered his friend away, and away he went, right back into the lamp, never to be set free by the same human twice. It was a rule that the lamp lorded. Eventually the King lost all hope of setting the being from the lamp free again, and passed it on down the line of his successors. Not one, had ever been able to set the powerful being free since the aged King, however. They were not of his kindness, not of his _goodness_."

"That was quite an entrancing tale," Draco said slowly. "Did anyone know why they were never apart?"

"It was said that it pained the being to be too far away from the King. He never wished to leave his side. Ever."

"Is there a way to free the being in the lamp?" Ginny pressed, once again, forgetting that she was meant to be silent. The man gave her a sharp look, his dark glaze making her extremely uncomfortable. It was like he saw right through her.

"You must understand. The impossibility of being free of the lamp to begin with. When was the last time you met someone pure in mind, body and soul?" the old man questioned, before Draco could make another hasty apology.

It didn't stop him from pinching the skin on her back. She winced, and tried to stop the glare from forming. She tried, really. "I dare say. Neither of you would qualify to be the Masters' of this astounding object."

"Why not?" Draco asked, pretending that he hadn't just pinched her. Douche.

"Why… It's obvious isn't it? You two aren't even married."

How?!

* * *

**Willow POV**

**Konoha's Front Gate**

* * *

"I can't come _with_ you, brat," Willow rolled her eyes for the tenth time that morning. Nothing the little boy could say would sway her mind on the matter. His cheeks were adorably puffed out in frustration with her lack of care over the matter. Sure, she wanted to keep him safe on this journey, but this was his career, his choice. He would get nowhere if she was there to hold his hand. Granted, she would have loved someone to be there when she was eleven, facing off against a Dark Wizard – in the end, she was better off for it.

It had taught her something. To be tough in the face of adversity, to never back down. Honestly, if she went with him, she'd intervene to keep him safe, she knew that. Plus, it was meant to be a relatively safe mission.

"But Nee-Chan!" the blonde boy said his tone getting suspiciously near a whine. Willow rolled her eyes at him. He was acting like her not coming with him was the end of the world. She was not going to be a cat for a few weeks. She remembered the stories that Sirius would tell her about how his form started to affect him when he was in it for any prolong amount of time.

She didn't want to catch himself trying to de-flea herself later.

"No buts," the red-head reprimanded, attempting to be firm in some way. "Honestly. How do you expect to become a big-bad Ninja if you have _me_ tagging along everywhere?"

Whiskered cheeks puffed full of air for the second time in the last few minutes, and the kid kicked the gravel path they were traveling down. Did he honestly think that was going to work on her? Granted his glum expression was starting to make her feel pretty guilty. "I'll miss you though!" he admitted a sour look gracing his normally cheerful features.

A bright grin spread across her face, and a rather loud chuckle emitted from her. "Course you will. That's why you have to come back home afterwards." It was almost adorable how stubborn this kid was being. "Hurry up brat, we're going to get there late!"

"But Nee-Chan, what are you going to do all by yourself?" The boy was stubborn as hell. He refused to take her words with any sort of seriousness.

"I'll find _something_ to keep myself entertained," she joked, trying not to go into depth of what she was going to be experimenting with when the boy left and she had no supervision. The kid didn't need to know the exact details of what she was. "Don't worry about me, this is your first big mission!"

"I know," Naruto grumbled, still looking sullen with her choice. As these words left his mouth, the gate leading from the Village grew closer and now Willow could see three figures leaning somewhere near the wall. The distance between Hinata and Sasuke was quite startling to her. Then again, she guessed you couldn't force kids to be friends, could you?

"Hey Hinata-Chan! Bastard! Old-Man Tazuna! Where's Sensei!?" Naruto crowed loudly, forgetting his previously bad mood – almost like it had never been there. She shook her head in amazement, honestly, how the heck did he manage to bounce out of his bad mood so quickly? "Is he late again!?"

"I'm offended," a voice called out. The green-eyed girl looked up to see the older Ninja sitting on top of the wall separating Konoha from the outside world. How the heck did he get up there? Looking so comfortable too… "Considering you're the one twenty minutes late."

"Oops… It was Nee-Chan's fault!" Naruto suddenly yelled, after a brief flash of sheepishness pointing at her like if would remove any blame for him being late. Willow snickered at the boy.

"Hey," Willow protested in good humour. It had been the kid trying to persuade her to use her 'Genie-Powers' to come along with them on their mission. Hatake jumped down from the top of the wall with his hands tucked easily in his pockets, he didn't even flinch or look at all ruffled landing on the ground. How did he make that look so easy?

"That sounds perfectly reasonable, you're excused."

"Bullshit," Sasuke grumbled shooting his teacher a dark look, almost like he couldn't believe a word that was coming out of the man's mouth.

"Ah ah, Sasuke-Kun. No swearing," Kakashi tusked, wagging his finger in front of the fuming Genin.

"If we," Sasuke gestured to Hinata with narrowed eyes. "Came to you with an excuse like that, we'd have to run at least twenty laps of Konoha!_ Its double standards_!" he hissed the last few words, with quite a scary look in his eyes.

He looked deadly. Kakashi shrugged his shoulders. "Neither you or Hinata have an _annoying_ sister."

"Hey!" Willow protested for real this time. Before she could continue to argue her case of why the silver-haired man was an idiot, Naruto fixed her with a scary stare and started to shake his head slowly. She blinked at the younger boy, slowly, not sure she was understanding what he was asking her to do. "At least _I'm_ not in the process of a mid-life crisis." She finished ignoring Naruto's violent head shakes. Was he going to explain that?

"I'm not old enough to be having a mid-life crisis!" He protested. "See Sasuke? _This_ is what I mean! _Poor_ _Naruto_."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, muttering about 'double standards'. Double standards right Sasuke. Willow frowned at Naruto's teacher unhappily. "Your right… Poor Naruto, have you seen his teacher?" she made a show of sarcastically throwing the comment out.

"Nee-Chan," Naruto whined. "Please, stop."

Right. Now wasn't the time to be acting like she was three. "Have fun on the mission Naruto, good luck. Make sure to wash your hands before you eat anything. Stay safe."

"Nee-Chan!" Naruto started to complain again, going slightly red. The Witch ignored him in favour of giving him a hug. She clutched him closely to her, carefully ruffling his hair. "Be careful," she whispered.

"I'm always careful!" Naruto boasted with a huge smile as she let him go. The sight of the boy and his Team double checking everything together to make sure they had everything made her feel slightly uneasy. Maybe she should have said she'd go with him, to make sure that he would be alright. But when else would she have that apartment other people free for more than a few hours at a time? She needed to figure things out.

"Yeah! To Wave!" Naruto yelled happily, taking a huge step over the town line. "Ah huh! This will be so fun! Bye Nee-Chan!" he called back, flashing her a massive grin. He wasn't too torn up by her forcing him to go on his own. Still… she bit her lip, quietly worrying about the boy. He'd be fine, she assured herself.

"Am I safe with this kid?" The man – Naruto's very first real client. And a raging drunk, as Naruto had called him, asked doubtfully.

"Most likely not," Sasuke responded dryly, eyeing the other boy with mild distain. The three Genin, their teacher, and client began to walk out of the gate. This was it. He was leaving, and he'd be fine. She had to remind herself of that. This was her choice to send him off. She'd been the one adamant that he should go alone. Willow sighed.

Almost like he heard her, Naruto turned around, and faintly, she could see the boy eagerly waving at her. He wasn't too beat up by the fact that she wanted him to go alone. He was still excited to be leaving Konoha for the very first time.

Oh Merlin. "He'll be fine. It's only a standard easy-to-do mission. The only enemy he's going to face is not being able to pitch a tent properly," the same voice that had been tormenting her a few moments previously uttered from beside her. Wait… Hadn't he just walked off, she'd seen his slit house in the distance!

"Shouldn't you be up there?" Willow asked doubtfully.

He shrugged his shoulders casually. "I'm surprised they haven't noticed actually," his lone eye was looking down at her, with none of the mindless humour that his face had held moments previously. The personality change almost had her spinning. "Don't worry about Naruto. He will be _fine_. There is no _real_ risk in a C Rank mission, at least, not in one like this one."

Willow nodded her head, deciding to trust this more serious – less mocking, version of Kakashi. An easy to do mission. Naruto had said it was mean to be 'all standard stuff', it shouldn't be too bad. "Thank you," Willow muttered, watching the man disappear into thin air.

She didn't need to worry. Really. It was his job, and Naruto didn't need to become dependent on her always being there. Because she couldn't always be there. She assured herself that he'd be fine. Back to her plans. She had some things to set up. Now that there wasn't any chance that someone was going to walk in on her.

She had Death to try and summon.

* * *

**Naruto POV**

**On the path to Wave**

* * *

Naruto was pretty bummed that Willoo-Chan wouldn't come with him on his first big mission outside of Konoha. But he guessed that it was okay. He really did want her to come, but he didn't know how she could come. In the eyes of his team she was just his big sister – they had no idea that she was a kick-arse Genie.

He could do this without Nee-Chan here anyway. Plus, it just meant that he was allowed to have Ramen when he came home and Nee-Chan would listen to all his tales about this epic mission! It would be great! Caught up in his thoughts, he didn't realise Sensei was calling his name. "What. Huh? Did you say something?"

Kakashi-Sensei laughed, his shoulders relaxing slightly. Sensei had been so uptight the past few weeks, it made Naruto wonder what was going to happen to him now that Sensei seemed to be actually _relaxing_. "If you say that, then you can't wear the jumpsuit."

"That doesn't even make sense," Naruto disagreed, really confused about what Sensei was talking about.

Sensei just waved his hand about for a few moments, apparently unconcerned about the confusion that his words had cause the young boy. Sensei was always so frustrating. "I was asking you to tell us what a Hokage is."

"Oh, the Hokage is the leader of the village," Naruto responded, realising that it was another one of Sensei's pop-quizzes. He was really beginning to hate those. Sensei would just spring them on his Team at random points. Naruto was sure the only reason he'd asked him was because he wasn't paying attention. Normally it was on rules that a Ninja always had to follow, but sometimes Sensei would deviate. Those were the hard questions to answer!

"And?"

"Uhh, he makes all the big choices?" Naruto hesitated. There was more that Sensei wanted him to explain? He was going to be the Hokage eventually, he was pretty sure that's what the Hokage was.

"Sasuke?"

"The Hokage is the strongest Ninja in the village charged with keeping peace, and is normally elected by the previous Hokage," Sasuke responded, his boredom leaking out of his tone.

"Yes," Sensei agreed. "What else, Hinata?"

"U-um, Sensei… I uh… I just, it's… that puddle…" she trailed off slightly, looking like she was fighting with herself. Hinata-Chan was really shy all the time, and Naruto really wasn't sure why. But she had been talking to him a lot more after she'd come over for dinner that one time – plus all the training they did together. Honestly! She hardly even stuttered around him anymore!

"Oh? What about it? Looks like a normal puddle, I think," Sensei responded, waving his hand like it was nothing to be concerned about. Naruto eyes drew towards the innocent puddle slightly off centre on the path. The bright light from the sun reflecting off the water… Wait, the bright light reflecting? Naruto looked up at the bright cloudless sky.

"It's sunny," Naruto said, feeling almost silly. Almost as if the words the blonde had muttered had broken a curse, twin figures rose from the water, chains escaping from the water so fast that Naruto could hardly keep up with them. The chains wrapped themselves around Sensei, crushing him to death. Had Naruto's mindless words caused Sensei's death!?

Had he just killed his teacher!? Even if he was a sadist he didn't mean to! Naruto's eyes widened with horror. Then he got slightly annoyed. This couldn't take out his Sensei. How can someone so annoying be taken out so easily!?

Okay, probably not. Both of his other teammates both didn't seem to believe something that simple could take out Sensei either. Even if he had disappeared, leaving nothing but dust behind. Which was what had Naruto questioning the disappearance of his Sensei. There was no proof! Plus, it'd be so uncool. Where was all the blood anyway? Naruto thought, becoming a bit more rational with both of his team mates remaining calm.

"Naruto, left. Hinata, client," Sasuke commanded a serious look entering his eye. Naruto nodded his head and lunged right. The guy on the right, a slightly shorter guy seemed slightly surprised that he'd gone after him. Naruto knew that Sasuke, the Bastard, had meant for him to go for this one. The man rearranged his chains quickly to cut Naruto in half. Naruto though, was quite used to dogging quick strikes – plus, these chains were slow compared to some of Buns-Chans weapons.

Buns-Chan was a demon with sharp, pointy objects. He was slightly terrified of the older girl.

Naruto ducked under the chains, rolling behind the short one. The chains kept on going though, even though Naruto wasn't there anymore and he quickly realised that the man couldn't control the chains as fast as he initially thought he could. With a shrug, Naruto threw one of his really pointy kunai (he still wondered how Nee-Chan got them so pointy!) at the man.

Sadly, his partner guy had thrown his chains out to block Naruto's kunai. They were going to work together even though Sasuke had originally wanted to divide the two a fight separately. That and those chains were coming dangerously close to him. With a yelp, Naruto pushed himself up and over the chains, landing next to Sasuke. He locked eyes with him, wondering what the plan was now.

Sasuke sighed. "Damn Naruto. I thought I saw two of those guys before."

An idea hit Naruto like a tidal wave. Quickly, the boy summoned four Kage Bunsion, sharing a cocky smirk with the Uchica. Naruto, and his clones threw themselves into the fight once again. Sasuke engaged the attention of the shorter one this time, and when both figures appeared equally distracted, his clones started to Henge as one of the two men.

Transformed, his clones turned on him. They wouldn't do any real damage. But now the other ninja were kind of confused about which one was their partner, and Naruto watched as their flawless teamwork fell apart – Naruto was sure that he could take them out now!

"The one on the end Sasuke!" Hinata suddenly yelled, most likely realising that they couldn't tell which one was which. She was using her cool eyes-Jutsu. "Second one in, Naruto-Kun!"

With a flying roundhouse kick, Naruto's foot connected with the head of the taller ninja. The force knocking him into the tree on the far end of the clearing. Naruto dropped to the floor, realising that the enemy ninja had been knocked out. Blue eyes turned to his teammates opposite, to see a similar result.

The two boys shared what had to be one of their first smiles exchanged with the other. "Not bad idiot."

Naruto shrugged, willing to take the compliment as he could. "Eh, not a bad plan _for a bastard_."

Slow clapping rung out through the clearing, and Naruto looked over to see their Sensei re-entering the area, a cheerful look of his scratch less body. Huh, so he'd been right. Sensei hadn't really died. His mind stayed back to a few months previous to when he'd been talking to Nee-Chan about Sensei about him being an idiot; 'I bet you his not, not really. He just wants you to think that.'

"Good teamwork you three. Sasuke, you finally realised that you can't take out all your opponents alone. Naruto that was some pretty formidable fighting you did in there, but, honestly, you need to be more careful with what you say. If I was any less cool, I'd most likely have been killed." Naruto hung his head slightly, a feeling of… shame? Entering his body. He should've known it was silly to say it out loud. "Hinata, good job on protecting the client, and helping out your teammates when you realised the flaw in their plan," Sensei spoke, his words open and honest. Naruto almost groaned, Sensei wasn't turning this into some sort of learning curve, was he?

"Although," a scary look entered his teacher eye as he turned to face the Old Man Tazuna. "I think someone has some explaining to do. These two were way out of the league of my cute little Genin. They might have been after me of course, but then, they wouldn't left after I died."

"So that's why you faked your death!" Naruto exclaimed, realising this made much more sense than he'd originally thought. Honestly, Kakashi-Sensei was so hard to figure out sometimes.

Naruto was on the receiving end of one of Sensei's terrifying 'eye-smiles'. "Of course, that and I wanted to test how far you three have come."

"Okay, so I haven't been _completely_ honest-,"

"_Completely honest_?" The bastard questioned him with a simply raised eyebrow and an incredulous face. Sasuke could do that too!? It wasn't fair! Nee-Chan could do that, so why couldn't he!? She made it look so cool, and he grudgingly admitted that it looked cool even with Sasuke doing it. "Those were trained Ninja. We aren't meant to come across trained ninja during a C-Rank. That's only B-Rank, or higher."

"Very good Sasuke," Kakashi-Sensei praised and Naruto scowled at the black haired know-it-all. "Now this is turning into something out of our league, after all, it just become a B-Rank. We're hardly even qualified for a C-Rank."

"Hey!" he protested loudly, puffing out his whiskered cheeks in an attempt to show how offended this made him. "I am _so_ qualified for a C-Rank!"

"No you really aren't," Sensei replied, not bothering to even look at him.

"Me and Sasuke just beat those freaking puddle guys!" Naruto yelled right back to his Sensei's calm tones. Why did he always have to insult them!? He'd show Sensei! He'd become so strong that one day, he'd beat Sensei! He'd like to see Sensei remain calm then! Ha!

'Freaking puddle guys?' Old Man Tazuna mouthed looking ashen.

"It's 'Sasuke and I'," was all the silver haired man responded with for a good few moments. Naruto's eye started to twitch, who did Sensei think he was!? "Plus, I still think squirrels could beat you. Actually, we can test this thought once we're back in Konoha. Training ground 44, I think. Yes, that could help."

Naruto scratched the side of his neck, never having heard of 'training ground 44' before. He looked over at Sasuke and Hinata, both of whom shrugged their shoulders. They had no idea what he was talking about either. "We should probably get on that actually. It's going to be all booked up in a few months. Have fun, Tazuna-San."

"H-hey! You can't just leave me here! What if these guys had backup and they come after me!?" The old man protested, slightly upset by the whole idea. He clutched his vest protectively, like it would convince the Ninja to stay and protect him.

Sensei shrugged his shoulders. "Not my problem. You lied about the mission rank. I'm not obliged to do much of anything at this point. I'm already in enough trouble as it is, I don't need to be in even more trouble. To be honest, I don't think you're worth it."

"Please! I'll be killed if you quit the mission now! These kids of yours are obviously _very_ skilled!" Naruto puffed up with some measure of importance. At least this guy realised how amazing of a ninja he was now! He could so protect this old guy!

"I don't particularly care," Kakashi responded dryly. Jeez, Sensei was really cold sometimes…

"My poor, cute ten year old grandson will surely cry over this for months, years even! My poor beautiful daughter will have to swear revenge on Konoha. But it's okay! I understand," the man lamented. Naruto was starting to feel really bad. His grandson was only a few years younger than him, would they really be damning a ten year old to a life without his grandfather? Naruto scratched the back of his head slowly.

What would Nee-Chan say? Naruto really wished that she'd come with him… Then maybe she would be able to tell him what to do. He was not looking forward to telling her that he'd been in a tad more danger than he'd initially let on. Naruto shuddered, Willoo-Chan could be pretty scary when she wanted to be. "Eh, Sensei… We could still help him out… y'know…"

"Naruto," the voice come out slightly reproachful. Naruto frowned, he was sure Nee-Chan would say something about helping this old man being the ethical thing to do.

"No! You see, the truth. Wave has been in a bit of trouble lately with a Tycoon named Gato. He's been controlling all export and import onto Wave – he is making it a very economically unstable place to live in! If I could just finish this bridge, then maybe, Wave wouldn't be so cut off and we could start creating the funds that we need to keep functioning as a proper society." He hesitated slightly. "Then maybe, we could pay you back for the more expensive mission! Wave could afford to pay for more than a C Rank mission!"

"Class," Kakashi-Sensei said rapidly, turning on his feet to face his students. "Pease, someone, tell me what would normally happen in this situation? With the money problems?"

Naruto scratched the top of his head, sheepishly looking at his two team mates – not having a clue what Sensei was on about. Sasuke looked just as blank on the topic as he felt. "P-payment plans and a-a-alliances can be o-offered in place o-of paying upfront. It's what earned Konoha the t-title of being the 'g-gentle nation'." Hinata stumbled, going bright red at the clients disbelieving look.

"Wave is a very poor country," Tazuna attempted to reason.

"Correct, Hinata-Chan. Now, why would we accept to go on a mission that we are grossly unqualified for, if he could have had more protection than us?"

Naruto scratched his head slowly. "…Trade?"

"Correct! Good job Naruto! If Wave would agree to a Trade agreement, then we may possibly consider continuing on this mission," Sensei said with one of his really creepy eye smiles.

"Anything! Anything you want!" The old man yelled, obviously despite to get them to come along.

* * *

**Willow POV**

**Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

Willow rubbed her chest with a frown on her face. Ever since the morning when she bid Naruto goodbye, she had this 'pulling' feeling in her chest. It wasn't painful at first, but slowly, she was growing more uncomfortable. What the heck was going on?

It hurt. Like, it really pained her. What could it be? Why did this horrible feeling suddenly well up inside her? Was there some sort of cause? It was making it harder for her to think. She felt like she was becoming erratic, slightly. Her concentration was also getting worse. The worst part as that she had no idea what could be causing this kind of pain. It was like nothing she'd ever felt before.

If there needed to be a comparison, it was like a flame was lit inside her. Not in a good way, in a way that felt like she was slowly being burnt from inside out. Like she was fading from existence. Willow shook herself, being with Naruto was making her overdramatic. It wasn't that bad. She had to power through it. She would get through it, she would figure out what it was causing her this pain – and there was one person who might know what was happening to her.

Death.

He had said that she' be able to call on him at any given point. Well, she wanted answers. With this in mind, she tried to shove the dull throb of burning in her chest to the back of her mind. It wasn't easy, but it had to be done. Quietly, she set to work – blocking anyway that could be used to see into the little apartment and locking the doors.

She was not going to be interrupted. After all, if she didn't take all the necessary precautions. What was the point in waiting till Naruto wouldn't stumble upon her? Willow sighed, feeling he fire burn brighter with thoughts of the sunny boy. She hoped he was having fun struggling to put a tent up. Honestly, he was adorable.

The burning began to spread, further out than just her chest, it was spreading to her shoulders. Ignore. Focus. Willow, focus, she reminded herself – pushing any pain she might have been feeling to the back of her mind, again.

Focus, she reminded herself. Focus. Now, she just needed to figure out how to…summon death. Death, come! She thought. Maybe, it was something that needed to be said out loud, she mused after nothing happened. "Death?" She called out, but again, nothing happened.

"I summon you, Death!" She tried again.

"Death, I summon thee!"

"I Willow Potter, Master of Death, summon you!"

"I command you to show yourself to me, Death!"

Maybe, this wasn't going to work. What else could she try to get the apparation to come before her? What had he said to her? Something about coming to her whenever she called? Maybe it had to be a specific phrase that she had yet to think of?

Willow groaned and sunk back into the tiny couch they had. Her head was swimming, her chest hurt like hell, and she couldn't think of what to do next! Shaking herself from her mild bout of pessimism, she sat up again. She was positive that Death had meant that she had to summon him, to call him to her, but she simply wasn't sure how…

"I am Willow Potter, the Mistress of Death..." she paused, thinking what else she might have to add. Willing the man to just appear. "Wielder of the Deathly Hollows, I command you, Death. Show yourself to me."

It happened quite suddenly, the air around her grew colder. The fly that had been buzzing around the kitchen sink (thank god that issue was fixed) just froze in mid-air – the annoying sound it was making ceasing to exist. The best part to Willow, was the dull ache in her chest lessened and it was a relief, to be free from the pain, for just a few moments.

"You called me, Mistress," the cold, emotionless voice rasped. Willow looked up to see the shiny black shoes, and long dark cape that covered the entirety Death. It was amazing to think, she had actually, just summoned Death. She summoned the Grim Reaper!

"Yes, I want to ask you a few things. And you're going to answer me," Willow said, sitting up tall when she realised that the pain she'd been experiencing was no longer an issue. She was in control, she wasn't half distracted – and she was going stuff done.

"Of course, Mistress," Death responded in the same dreary tone.

She twitched, she really should have planned out her questions before she summoned Death. She honestly hadn't expected any of her words combinations to draw out the Omen. But, as her Potter luck always did – it somehow worked for her. Think Potter. "First, what does being the 'Mistress of Death' mean, exactly?"

Death said nothing, he did not move – for a moment, Willow was scared that he didn't hear her, or she was just dreaming. "It is a job, upon which you discover in time."

"I think now's the time," Willow pressed, forgetting how much she hated how Death seemed to only talk in riddles, and answering what she didn't want to know. "Just, how it will affect me, is there anything that is required that I do?"

"There will be a time, where souls are unrightfully taken," Death said after a brief pause. "You will return them to their domain."

"Like, I'll be able to send Ghosts away?"

"There are no ghosts in this universe, Mistress," Death intoned, and Willow blinked. There wasn't any ghosts!? How can there not be any? How would that even work!? "You _can_ summon the spirit of any soul born from within this realm. No matter the place. No matter the time. Just say the words, and they will appear."

"Only from this universe, right?" Willow asked, slowly, considering all these other possibilities that she could see from this. She could summon Dumbledore! He would know how to get her out of this predicament! He might have arranged things for his own benefit, but he would help her if he could!

Death nodded his head, not that she could see his head – but she understood the general movement. Willow felt her heart sink. She didn't know any dead from this universe. How could they help? Maybe with Naruto's training, she could summon someone that would help but, how would she know who to summon? How did you summon souls? "How do I summon a soul?"

"It is innate. Like summoning myself, we are all here simply to do your bidding, Mistress."

That… Didn't make any sense! She should have brought a notebook out so she could have written down all the answers he was giving her so that she could analyse them later. Why didn't she do that? Oh yeah, she was reckless. "Alright. Does being your Mistress give me anything else? Any other sort of responsibility, or… power?"

"Soul power," Death responded promptly.

"What does that entitle?" Willow asked, but Death didn't answer the question. She scowled. "How will I find out what it is, then?"

"In time."

Willow groaned in frustration. After all, when Death answered just one of her questions, about another dozen seemed to pop up in its wake. "Have you ever heard of a lamp that you inside of it, until someone lets you out?" she hesitated about asking that one, she hadn't intended to even ask about it, but, she figured that it couldn't hurt.

"It forged your bond, of life and soul," Death answered. Willow raised an eyebrow at that one. What the hell? Could he just speak like a normal person?!

"What do you mean?"

"It ties your life to his. He gains my protection – neither will die, whilst the other one lives." Willow shuddered, that reminded her all too much of the prophesy between herself and Voldemort. She cringed.

"Thank you, Death," Willow whispered, he had given her quite a bit to think about. When she'd sifted through all the information that he gave her (and figured out what the hell he'd actually said), then she'd summon him again to answer more questions.

"I do as you command, my Mistress. I give warning, with the knowledge of the element of Soul, the power will come in all due time. Today, tomorrow, next year. In due time," he repeated before disappearing.

Slowly the fly came back to life, buzzing around the water left in the sink again – not aware that it even stopped, for the briefest moment. The element of soul? Soul bond? Summoning Souls? Her head was swimming!

Slowly, as slowly as a snail crawled its way across the floor. The fire started to burn within her body again. Was it because of the Lamp? Was it the Soul Bond that Death had spoken of? Was the reason of this slowly torturous burn, because she wasn't by Naruto's side? What other powers did that Lamp hold?

To Willow, the object was no longer one of her mild hatred, and night-time fears. It was no longer just a prison. It was something that held the power of something so much more. With that in mind, she went to find the thing. It was about time she started to study the damned object. Stopping to grab the pen – which Naruto had been using to learn how to write reports with, a few sheets of paper and a towel.

She wasn't going to touch the silly lamp! Ignoring whatever pain she was in, she gingerly wrapped the towel around the object hidden in one of Naruto's long forgotten cupboards. Setting the old thing out on the table, she used the towel to move it around so she could see the full expanse of the object.

It was gold, but old and nowhere near shiny. It looked somewhat Middle Eastern. It did look like something that a Genie would be trapped in, or chose to live in. She could see where Naruto got confused – it wasn't like the stories went; There was once a _witch _that lived in a lamp…

It quite honestly, didn't look that terrifying. So why did it make her heart beat just that little bit faster, and Adaline pump just slightly through her veins? She was not scared of a tiny, tin object! With another unnecessarily deep breath in. Focus, she needed to focus right now.

There were little markings all over it, squinting, she would've said they were tiny runes. Willow did not study runes at Hogwarts. Opting instead to take Care of Magical Creatures and Divination. She cursed her need to have an 'easy O', now. Willow bit her lip. Perhaps Ninja had something like this in their world. It wouldn't be runes, but perhaps, they used etchings to create some sort of power.

If they did, she'd find it, and she would Master it. She honestly prayed to Merlin that they had something like this around. Maybe it was time to take another trip to the library. She'd go tomorrow, she decided, copying down a few of the odd symbols decorating the surface.

After she'd completed that task, she wrapped the lamp up and tucked it back away in the most unused cupboard that Naruto would ever have. She then barrowed herself into a ball, on the sofa, clutching a woollen, red blanket around her frame.

Maybe she could sleep some of the pain off, some of it. Willow clenched her eyes shut, letting the pain take over momentarily – dear Merlin, she needed to stop feeling sorry for herself.

* * *

**Naruto POV**

**On the way to Wave!**

* * *

Naruto groaned for what felt like the tenth time. It was so boring! Just walking along this road! They got into a boat, and they had to be quiet (ha! Sensei couldn't quiz them then!) then they got off the boat and resumed walking – much to Naruto's relief, Sensei was happy to remain silent, and not quiz them.

For now! Naruto alternating to sighing this time, it was only much too soon for Sensei to start up again. But the blonde boy knew he would, his teacher was a sadist. He enjoyed making his students miserable. He knew it. "Will you stop?" The Bastard growled, shooting him a dark look.

Naruto stuck his tongue out at Sasuke in a very mature move. "Make me."

This time, Sensei and Tazuna sighed in unison. Naruto glared at them. "Now-," Sensei stopped talking suddenly, and Naruto stopped listening as well, not interested in hearing the reprimand for annoying his teammate. It wasn't his fault that Sasuke was a bastard. Before Naruto could even figure out what was going on, Sasuke was holding on to his arm and pulled him towards the ground.

Naruto stumbled a bit before fully dropping to the ground. Thank Kami he did, after all not two seconds after he moved, a massive sharp sword was whiling through the air above the two teens heads, before embedding itself in a tree.

A man, a really big man, covered in bandages fell down from the tree and landed on the big sword that he'd embedded in the tree. Naruto looked at it curiously, even though he was sure that there was dirt stains in his cool orange jumpsuit. How did it manage to hold all of his weight? This guy was bigger than Sensei was! Who was this guy!?

Sensei slowly stood up, carefully placing his hands in his pockets. Old man Tazuna was sitting beside him – Sensei must have dragged him down with him. "…Momochi Zabuza."

"The famous Copycat Ninja; Hatake Kakashi. I'm honoured you've heard about me," the dark haired guy replied. He had a rough sort of voice, like, he'd accidently swallowed sandpaper. Wait, Sensei, famous? Yeah right!

"My adorable students, you might want to step back. It's my turn now," he turned to them, but only slightly – he never really stopped looking from the guy on the sword… Zabuza? His creepy eye smile still going strong. Was Naruto the only one that noticed the way that Sensei seemed to tense? Almost like he was…nervous? "This Missing Nin from Kiri. You have quite a bounty on your head."

"Not as much as that one on yours, Copycat," Zabuza sounded amused. "I do _wonder_ though. If I'm _special _enough for a peek at your most valued weapon. _Sharigan Kakashi_?"

"Sharigan?" Naruto and Sasuke whispered at the same time, for some reason, both of them portrayed the same amount of confusion.

"If that's what you want," Kakashi-Sensei replied cheerfully. "I'm nothing if not helpful!" Kakashi-Sensei then proceeded to live up his oddly slanted forehead protector – Naruto did wonder why he always wore it like that. All that he could see though was that Sensei's eye was closed and a wicked scar slashed right through the entire thing.

Then Sensei opened his eye to reveal the bright red iris, which really did freak him out. There were little black dots dancing in the red eye and Naruto was really confused as to why Sensei's eye was like that. Did Sensei, like Hinata, have a really cool eyes-Jutsu? What did it allow him to do? Was It like Hinata's and allow him to see Chakra paths, and a really long way away from him, or… or what?! And why was the Bastard looking so horrified at it?

"It's a real honour," Zabuza said with… was that sarcasm? That was the thing that Nee-Chan was trying to teach him. It was like, saying something when you didn't really mean it, but meant the opposite thing, right? Bah! Naruto would never understand the point of sarcasm.

Coming to their senses, the three Genin moved into one of their formations – the Triangle Formation, to be exact, around old man Tazuna. As the three moved, so did the missing-nin. He rapidly began to go through hand seals, so fast that not even he – the future Hokage, could keep up with what he was doing.

"Kirigakure no Jutsu," the man intoned, and as these words left his bandaged mouth a thick mist began swirling around his feet. Too soon, much too soon, that mist began to permit the air. SO much so that Naruto couldn't see a speck of dust in front of his eyes. He was blind! How could they protect the old man if they couldn't see him?

"Byakugan!" A quiet, somewhat timid void mumbled from next to Naruto, and it allowed him to relax. Hinata would be his eyes if he needed them. They would be fine.

"So many parts to _cut! _What will it be? Kidneys? Heart? Maybe the lungs?" a demented chuckle arose from their self-proclaimed enemy. Naruto shuddered, the feeling of panic suddenly erupted from within him. He was glad that Willoo-Chan didn't come with them, he was glad that she wasn't facing this! This guy was so… scary!

Naruto took a deep breath and tried to centre himself. He'd be fine. He had Hinata-Chan to be his eyes, he had his sadistic Sensei there to kick butt. He was sure that with the bastard, they could protect themselves, and Tazuna. They'd be fine. Fine, he assured himself.

"It's going to be fine guys. I'll protect you all with my life," Sensei assured them. That was all Naruto needed to get rid of that last pit of tension. He relaxed slightly, but not too much. "Don't make promises you can't keep, Copycat!"

Naruto heard Hinata squeak slightly and before he could do anything but turn his head, he could make out Zabuza standing right next to him, with his sword about to cut their client in half! Like she had known what was about to happen though – Hinata-Chan stuck quite a few Kunai into the man's side. Before Naruto knew what was going on, the mist lessened by a degree – by that, he could see minutely better, and this Zabuza disappeared into a puddle of water.

Hinata had killed this guy's clone! She was so cool!

The lessoned mist allowed Naruto's eyes to refocus on his Sensei who hadn't moved an inch. Naruto smiled slightly, Sensei knew that Hinata would react and protect them. Because she was a great Ninja! Plus really good at predicting fights! Even if the bulging veins around her eyes were slightly off putting. Suddenly Kakashi swing around and slashed another Zabuza from behind him in half!

That one too disappeared into a puddle of water… Another clone? Sensei lunged forward to avoid the attack that was coming from above him, wow! That was so fast! Before Naruto could even register what was happening, Sensei had cut that Zabuza in half as well! Although, it had the same effect. He became another pile of water!

Sensei suddenly froze. Oh no! Zabuza had a kunai positioned at Kakashi's throat, both of them stopped moving – just standing there. Naruto bit his lip, he really wanted to help Sensei… but he'd said not too… "Very impressive, but, not quite good enough, Copycat." He pulled the kunai across his throat in a quick motion and Naruto stilled…

Sensei turned into a puddle of water! Ha! Kakashi-Sensei was too cool to go out like that! Mirroring the previous actions, but with the opposite people, they found themselves with Kakashii holding a kunai to Zabuza's throat.

"You call me Copycat, and yet, you don't expect me to copy you," Kakashi said amused. "I'm a little disappointed."

Sensei was so cool. "You shouldn't be. You forget what we're standing on… Suiro no Jutsu!"

Sensei was encased by columns of water that formed a circular prison. Kakashi Sensei's eyes both widened. Oh crap. They needed to get Sensei free, Naruto realised, and it was up to them. Because Sensei needed to be the one to finish this fight… but… how!? "Disrupt the chakra flow," Hinata-Chan said so quietly, that he wasn't even sure he heard what she said.

Hinata knew what he and Sasuke we're most likely both thinking. Disrupt the chakra flow? How would they do that? "We can finish this later right? No hard feelings but, I have some kids and an old man to hack up."

Another clone appeared out of the corner of the lake that the two Jonin were standing on. They needed to disrupt the real Zabuza, they couldn't do that if there was a clone in the way! What did they do? Naruto looked at Hinata out of the corner of his eye. She could cut off people's chakra, he'd seen her do it before, plus, she'd 'killed' one of his clones before. If they could get her near enough…

But wouldn't that be really dangerous? She surely couldn't even compare to Zabuza! She had to touch him for that to work. Could she even get that close?

"You brats, parading around like you know the true meaning of a ninja… A Ninja is someone who baths in blood," The Clone said cheerfully and Naruto shuddered, this guy was creepy. The clone disappeared.

Naruto hardly had any time to move before this guy reappeared in front of him. Only the intensive training that he'd had with Gai and Lee was the reason that he managed to flip over the kick aimed as his gut. Naruto flipped over, Kunai in hand ready to throw at him. Only for it to get met with one of his own.

"Lucky shot," Zabuza growled. Naruto's eyes narrowed. If he… if he distracted the clone. Sasuke or Hinata could break Zabuza's concentration on the prison that Sensei was in. Could Naruto take him out when he wasn't trapped with nowhere else to go, though?

He had to try.

"I don't get lucky!" Naruto yelled back, mind spinning. What could he do? He caught Sasuke's eyes, and the boy seemed to realise what he was thinking. For a bastard, he seemed to understand what he was thinking without any flaws. "Kage Bunsion no Jutsu!"

Three Naruto's appeared, blocking the clone in a box of Naruto. The blonde imagined his teacher to be groaning right now… wait no… his teacher was actually groaning. Naruto ginned, he could be a great distraction!

His clone that was facing towards the real him started the party off with his newly perfect earth spikes! Thanks Hinata-Chan, he thought with a grin. She was going to help majorly! The clone dodged this attack by going over the spikes to take out his first clone with his fist only to be met with a rock wall. Still, the punch pretty much cause the whole thing to crack and break.

Naruto took this distraction to levy a spinning high kick towards his face. Clone Zabuza caught his foot, but he wasn't to be deterred and he used the momentum to twist into another kick towards the head. Naruto 2 as he dubbed him, started off with the spikes again. He knew his cones could only use one Jutsu before they couldn't really perform another one, but, Zabuza didn't need to know that.

He dropped the blonde so he could narrowly avoid the oncoming spikes and Naruto grinned happily. Standing right behind him was yet another Naruto, with a sharp pointy knife. Zabuza exploded into a puddle of water.

"Impressive, I guess with the Copycat as your teacher…." Zabuza complimented Naruto when he turned to him. "But I can just keep making more of those… Wait, where's the girl with the bight white eyes?"

"My family is very talented in Genjutsu," Sasuke replied blandly. Naruto ginned, they'd had the same idea.

"What does – shit!" Zabuza cursed, clutching the arm that had previously been holding Kakashi Sensei prisoner, that'd gone limp. No chakra flow emitting from the arm. "God freaking damn it!"

Naruto watched as Hinata-Chan jumped away, a pink flush to her cheeks as she steadied herself on the now still water.

Sensei grinned. "I'll make Ninja out of you three yet. Just to let you know, I don't fall for the same Jutsu twice. Hinata-Chan, you might want to get off the lake while you still can."

Zabuza's eye twitched, he looked pretty pissed off. Naruto guessed he'd be pretty pissed off if he got bested by three twelve year olds' as well. In an instant, the missing-nin began to make rapid handseals, and Sensei copied each and every one – just a fraction faster than Zabuza was doing them. "Suiton: Suiryudan!" the yelled in unison.

Two large water dragons grew from the lake before crashing into the other, falling into mere torrents of water power by each individual Ninja. It was going to come down to which one had more power, Naruto realised. Both torrents dissipated, the Ninja left gasping for air.

Kakashi actually grinned, and not the creepy eye smile grin either. It made Naruto uncomfortable. "…The hell am I copying your move?" Sensei asked. Naruto wondered if Sensei realised that he forgot to say the first half of the question.

Both Ninja jumped back at the same time, the Kiri-Nins eye was twitching madly, but he still couldn't seem to catch his breath. "..Goddamn freaky eye! It's pissing me off! Right?" Kakashi-Sensei laughed.

"Your just… copying me," he growled, pulling out a kunai – was it back to hand to hand? Maybe, Naruto realised when Sensei did the same thing. "It's what you _do_. Copycat! You can't-."

"Beat me, you cheap excuse for a bastard?" Sensei guessed, widening his stance the same time that Zabuza did.

"Goddamn it, when I'm finished with you ba-,"

"-Bastard, you won't ever be able to open that Copycat mouth again," Sensei finished, cutting him off. Sensei was really kind of epic! Naruto could see what Nee-Chan had said now! He wasn't terrible! He was amazing!

Before either knew what was going on, Naruto saw the flash of another clone behind Zabuza! The clone housed a roundhouse kick across the man's head sending him flying into a tree. When he landed he groaned, not bothering to move. Sensei walked forward, not bothering to keep it calm like he normally did. "It's over. I win."

"...But…How? You can't copy the future…?"

"Nothing's impossible," Sensei grinned. The words resounded deep within Naruto. Nothing's impossible – it sounded like something Nee-Chan had told him when he first met her and now look at where he was? If he kept working towards it, truly, nothing was impossible! He'd beat the clone of a really strong Ninja. Granted, it didn't have an eighth of the power that Zabuza had but – he had gotten so much better!

Imagine how far he could go?

Before Sensei had the chance to finish the problem, sharp looking senbon needles flew through the air and pierced right through Zabuza's neck. His eyes widened before closing. Naruto's jaw dropped and his gaze went towards the trees, where a kid about his age with a strange mask on stood.

"It is indeed, thanks to you, Leaf Team. I have finally managed to track down my target."

Who was this guy!?

**A/N – I realise that you guys might be a bit confused as to why Willow would leave Naruto alone on a really dangerous mission, that normal Genin would never be able to even see the sight of – remember this though. It was **_**meant**_** to be an **_**easy**_** mission. No one had ****any**** idea it was going to be even remotely dangerous. Naruto himself told her it was a standard easy-to-do mission, Kakashi said the hardest thing that would happen would be him putting up a tent. She didn't see the point in accompanying him on what she thought was basically a glorified camping trip – not when there were other things she could be doing without Naruto around to see it happening. **

**Also, it looks like I have a Plot Hole when I say she didn't want Naruto walking in when she was with Death. Time freezes when Willow meets him. What she was trying to avoid was Naruto walking into the aftermath of what she would be like after seeing him, she had no idea what he'd say to her, or if she'd be able to hide it from Naruto. She's trying to shield him from any dangerous knowledge about her. **

**Now that that's all sorted. Thank you guys! You all rock! Did I mention that I have 276 reviews? 1,164 Favourites? 1,634 Followers and this story is **_**in 44 Communities**_**? This actually blows me away. You guys bloody rock! I want to thank each and every one of you. Every Follow/Favourite just makes my day. Reviews make my life, but that's beside the point. I know my grammar, and spelling can get pretty **_**bad**_** at points – but I'm working on it, really, I am. But thank you for sticking by this story. This is an exercise for me to get better, and better. Which in all honesty, is all I want to do – become a better writer. **

**I hope you all enjoyed it!**

**Love, Akari-Chaan! **


	8. Chapter 8

**Ain't No Friend like Me**

* * *

_Naruto POV_

_Tazuna' House_

* * *

Hinata's form crumbled down next to him, but he gave no indication that he cared, or even noticed. Their teacher, was a sadist that was it – plain and simple. Sasuke grunted before he rather ungracefully flopped to the ground next to him as well. In their short time in wave, the three ninja had formed a vow with each other, one the read like; 'hide from the crazy teacher that only seems to get crazier'.

At least that's what Naruto had taken that as. Sensei had taken to watching them spar, continuously, and by that he meant for hours on end. Just to throw in little critiques. By the end each Genin, was a little more than bruised and a little bit sorer. Naruto looked up at the cloudless sky, honestly, they'd done a good job and their teacher's way of paying them back was what, more work? Couldn't Kakashi-sensei ever let them catch a break?

"Sensei must have been bullied when he was younger," Naruto decided, finally being the one to break the silence.

"What makes you say t-that, Naruko-kun?" Hinata said, voice timid, but almost stutter free – which Naruto was thankful for. She didn't need to be so nervous around him. He didn't want to appear mean or scary to Hinata, he liked Hinata – she was his friend.

"Because that would explain why he's such a prick to all of us," Naruto concluded. "I bet it's because of his face. That has to be why he wears that stupid mask."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, obviously just being a prick because he could. Why didn't he see the logic in his response? "I'm almost certain that isn't a legitimate answer."

"Yeah," Naruto challenged, not having the energy to sound the least bit threatening. "Than what's _your_ conclusion then?"

Sasuke said nothing and Naruto took that as Sasuke realising that he was right. _Ha_. "There's a way to find out, actually," Naruto said slowly, a grin working its way on his face, despite how tired he was. The promise of a challenge eagerly making its way into his mind. This could be a way to work off all the excess steam he'd been building up!

"And?" Sasuke challenged.

"We get him to take off his mask, of course!"

"How would we do that?" Even Hinata sounded dubious of his plan. Hinata! She was meant to be on his side!

"I bet we could get Genie-san to do it," Sasuke mused. "She'd distract him."

Naruto went red, and saw red at the same time. He'd peg that as an accomplishment. "Shut up, bastard! Don't involve my sister. She'd not here anyway! I say we make it training. And a bet, whoever gets the mask off first wins something!"

"Wins what?" Sasuke replied coolly, but Naruto knew he had his interest.

"If I win, I want you to teach me the fireball Jutsu you know," Naruto said, energy flowing through his veins again at the prospect of winning the game.

Sasuke's eye's narrowed. "Fine. I want to learn those earth Jutsu's you both know."

"Fine," Naruto agreed, both boys turning to face Hinata who looked quite startled.

"Huh? What? Oh! I… want us to go on a Team Dinner, all four of us," Hinata admitted, and Naruto looked at her with wide eyes. Why did Hinata want that and not some kick-arse Jutsu from the bastard? A dinner would be so boring!

"Even the bastard?" Naruto whined, deciding that he wouldn't mind very much if they all just decided that the Bastard wasn't going and then it might even be fun.

"Idiot," Sasuke muttered.

"What did you call me!?" Naruto argued, getting fired right back up! Yeah! Time to get the mask off! Naruto grinned, there had to be some way to get that stupid mask off!

* * *

Naruto, of course, had to be the first one to attempt getting the mask off. He wouldn't let the other two even have the chance to try! If of course, they managed to get it off before he could even try, then he'd never get to learn the crazy amazing fireball Jutsu!

Never the less, Naruto peered into his Sensei's room. His two team mates in tow, in case he did actually manage to get the teachers ever present mask off. Looking into the room, he saw Sensei was fast asleep. Yes, that was Naruto's plan. Remove it when he was asleep, ha!

Naruto as silently as he could, crept forward until he had reaching Kakashi-sensei's sleeping form. Slowly, he moved his hand towards his Sensei's face, he was shaking – he realised. No, this would work. After all, how could Sensei stop him if he was asleep? It was like those times that Nee-chan managed to splash him with water – it was the same principle.

Just as his fingertips skimmed the mask, Sensei's arm shot up and grabbed Naruto's wrist. Ouch! Sensei had a really, really strong grip. "Oww!" Naruto cried, feeling small tears of pain appear in his eyes. That really hurt.

"Hmm, oh? Sorry Naruto," Sensei said, opening his eye. How had he done that with his eye closed!? Sensei let go of his wrist but shot him an amused expression. "But… Why were you trying to touch me?"

"I uh, was trying to wake you up?" Naruto tried, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. Well, technically, that was what had happened. Even if that hadn't actually been his intention. "Cause' uh, breakfast?"

"Right," Sensei said, almost like he actually believed him! Wow! That was a close call!

* * *

Sasuke had generously let Hinata try second, Naruto was sure it's because Sasuke was a bastard and wanted to watch her fail like she did. After all, he'd pretty much been moping ever since his brilliant plan backfired – but, still. He was already working on a new one. His next plan would be brilliant.

Hinata sat next to their Sensei at breakfast, her eyes were wide and innocent, and her timid smile was in place. Sensei didn't even think anything as up. Naruto wondered what Hinata's plan was going to be. "Um, Sensei?" Hinata asked in a meek voice.

Kakashi-sensei looked up from his book, bored and uninterested. "Yes, Hinata-chan?"

"I was thinking… Wh-what if someone t-tried to trick us with a-a likeness of you in b-battle? What would h-happen if w-we couldn't tell if it was you or not?"

"Well," Sensei paused. "Then I'd like you to use your brains, not Naruto's of course, but yours to figure out if what I was saying was wrong."

"Hey!" Naruto protested, his cheeks inflaming, but he went ignored.

"B-but… What if we couldn't tell? W-wouldn't it be wise that we know something that no one else would know?" she tried again, twilling her fingers. "S-something that no one can remember ever seeing?"

"You mean…?"

Hinata nodded her head slowly. "Fair enough, I like your logic," Kakashi nodded his head, moving his hand to grab the edge of his mask. Naruto's jaw dropped and Sasuke's eye widened. This could not be working! No way! Slowly, Sensei pulled the fabric down to reveal… another mask!?

"There, only you three know that I do in fact, have _two_ masks."

* * *

They had decided that getting one mask down, didn't really count as getting to see Sensei's face – but it did put Hinata in first place, compared to Naruto who hadn't managed to get anywhere near as close. This left it to Sasuke to get the mask off, if he wanted to win.

Naruto would not stop pouting. This was totally unfair. "I'll pay you."

"With what?" the small brown haired kid asked, his voice suspicious. Sasuke rolled his eyes. Naruto and Hinata were looking rapidly between the two boys.

"What do you want, money? Knives? Kunai?"

"Why would I want your stupid Ninja tools?" The boy asked, a disgusted look spreading over his face. "I'm eight."

"So was I when I got my first pair," Sasuke said, attempting to persuade the boy.

"I want candy."

"I don't have-," Sasuke tried. Naruto thought back to when they were walking through the shopping district. Really, it wasn't like the black haired boy could simply go buy it either.

"I don't care, if you want the stupid mask of your stupid Sensei's face, then I want candy!"

Sasuke sighed. He wasn't getting anywhere! Naruto snickered loudly, haha! Sasuke was getting next to nowhere with the young boy. Naruto didn't even know what Sasuke's plan was. If they, trained awesome ninja couldn't get near Sensei, than how could this innocent eight year old kid?

* * *

_Willow POV_

_Konoha State Library_

* * *

She couldn't think, it hurt her head too much. She felt like she might implode, honestly, as the days wore on the tugging, the burning feeling centred in her chest was only getting worse. It had stalemated for a little bit, giving her a chance to think, but mainly, it was an unbearable sort of pain.

She tried her best to ignore the crippling pain. She had withstood the torture curse, she could handle this. She'd thought a bit on what Death had said earlier about the Lamp though. About Naruto. He had said their two souls were connected. Hadn't he? Did that mean, the reason she was in this pain, was because of the distance between them?

If that were so, why hadn't she felt anything when he was waltzing through the village? Why hadn't she felt anything till a few hours after the boy had left? Was there a certain distance they could go? What was that distance? How could she measure it?

More importantly, could Naruto feel this too? It made sense, to her really, if she was being put through this torture – and with their 'souls' linked, wouldn't he to share some of the burden? Or was this another one of the Lamp's tricks?

That's what brought her here, to Konoha State Library, she was under a shaky invisibility spell. She wished she didn't have to use her magic though, it had taken her quite some time to summon the power necessary. She was sure, this was because her powers were working to subdue the raging inferno lit inside her body. Maybe the pain should have been worse than what it was, and her powers had actually been smothering it.

It made Willow question, if anyone else had been trapped in that damn thing – then what the hell would have happened to them?

She digressed. Willow wondered up toward the shelves the normally hid the treasures that she was speaking. After a few unfruitful moments, she realised that she wasn't going to find what she was looking for there. Perhaps, this was kind of like Hogwarts in ranks. They hadn't had the option to study Runes until third year, and if this was any similar. Then maybe, she needed to proceed towards the shelves that were meant for a Ninja of higher rank.

Slowly, she moved toward the shelves that read 'Chunin' in golden italic writing. Cautiously, she poked the shelf and froze. Nothing happened. Honestly, what was it with people and concealing highly dangerous books from people? The Forbidden Section of Hogwarts Library was way too easy to access as well.

Those people had magic, even. Shrugging her shoulders – she resigned herself to a few hours of looking through books to find the thing she was after. She looked through many things, tips on weapons, fighting – Jutsu. The stuff that Naruto had reported learning from that Team Mate of his actually, she realised with interest. Has that teacher of his been teaching his students a little too much?

It could never be too much when you were pretty much a trained hitman, she reasoned. Her fingers glided over each cover, briefly stopping to enquire of its content but, she didn't find anything that would remotely translate into runes, Willow's eye twitched – she needed to find something, anything!

With her slight irritation, a flash of fire consumed her beating heart. Green eyes winced as she braced herself against the shelf to keep her upright. Willow grimaced, feeling her eyes well up with tears that she would not allow to fall. The burning changed slightly, it transformed into a stabbing pain. A sharp stab right through her chest – she had never felt anything more painful.

Naruto! Something must be happening to him, she realised. That was the only reason she could think of, that would cause her pain to get greater. After the pain had stalemated late last night, she figured it was because he'd reached his destination. The pain got worse the further he went.

Either he was going further, still, or he was in some sort of danger. He was hurt. Willow shook her head. It wasn't possible, she reminded herself. Not that this was easy with the all-consuming pain that forced her to want to hide in a hole and cry. She wouldn't though, she was stronger than that. And Naruto's mission wasn't dangerous, and she was over thinking.

Not that she felt like she could over-think with this pain. Her hands fumbling to find grip on the shelf that kept her upright, she realised that she mightn't be able to continue her research. The pain was too distracting. She needed a clear mind to process concepts better.

All she could consider right now was pain, pain, pain, pain. One of the books she'd been using to grip, slipped off the shelf. She caught it was shaky hands, eager to shove it back into place and go to Naruto's apartment and try sleep through this experience.

Her eyes caught the strange picture on the front cover, glancing upwards she read; 'The Theory of Understanding Sealing.' Round eyes locked onto the image on the front, it _did _look oddly like a rune. It was just her luck that she managed to stumble across the thing!

Willow hid the tiny book in her jacket packet. It was time to go to sleep, she mused, quickly departing the room.

* * *

_Naruto POV_

_The yet unnamed, Bridge of Wave_

* * *

"I'm bored," Naruto wined. They'd been 'watching' the Bridge Builder build stuff for ages now. They were meant to be protecting him, from dusk till dawn and it was boring.

"We haven't even gotten there yet," Kakashi-sensei reminded him cheerfully. "Just wait until you have to spend another eight hours standing there and staring at nothing!"

"Sadist," Naruto muttered under his breath, ignoring his Sensei's fake surprised look and dramatic hand over his heart. He wasn't really offended by Naruto's offhanded remark. He knew that, Sensei had an odd sense of humour.

"You could help us with the building part, you know," The old man interjected, a slight amount of hope in his voice.

"Then you'll owe us construction wages on top of the body guard wages," Sensei informed him, still as cheerful as ever. Did Sensei ever think of anything that wasn't money, or training that was going to send him to the grave?

His life sucked.

"Wait," Kakashi-sensei paused just before they reached the bridge. Naruto didn't really pay much attention to Sensei and he stumbled forward a few more steps towards the bridge. And what a mistake those few more steps were. The construction workers, which Naruto had come to remember the names of, were sprawled across the developing bridge.

Each with this own special pool of red liquid surrounding their body. Naruto's eyes burned and his stomach churned with an unknown emotion. He felt like he was going to be sick. His eye focused on their chests, but he saw no rise to indicate that the men were breathing.

What the hell had happened here? "O-o-o-oh," Hinata stumbled, her voice sounding much more close to fainting than Naruto dared. "A-a-a-a-are they-they…"

Kakashi-sensei nodded his head grimly, giving them a stern look, before his eyes rested on Hinata – and even Naruto could see that she didn't look too good. "Hinata, stay back here with Tazuna. Protect him. Naruto, Sasuke… I might need backup, stay out of the fight unless I give you express permission. Do you understand?"

Naruto nodded his head dumbly, quite a contrast with Sasuke's sharp nod. He didn't even look all that fazed by the blood and dead bodies, they were… just there. Naruto took in a shaky breathe. This was being a ninja. This was being a ninja. Naruto followed behind Kakashi-sensei tense.

Sensei trusted him, them – him and Sasuke to have his back. Naruto had to toughen up. What would a Hokage-To-Be like himself be if he could hadn't a little bit of blood? But it wasn't a little bit. It was a lot. There was so much of it. It was everywhere. It coated the steal of the bridge a bright red.

Naruto shook. It was like the colour of Nee-chan's hair, he mused. As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he cringed. He couldn't imagine his Nee-chan sprawled across the floor with the other men, her red hair fanned out to simulate the red blood pouring from their wounds.

He couldn't. He wouldn't. Naruto began to shake. It was all too real, all too soon. He realised. He noticed Sensei glance back towards him. "You can stay with Hinata-chan, if you want Naruto."

Naruto gulped. Hinata-chan could take care of herself, he knew that. He was scared, scared of ending up like the constructors. He was scared of the blood red liquid fanning across the ground. He wasn't just scared, he was terrified. But what if Sensei and Sasuke-teme needed him. Needed his help?

What if they got hurt because he was scared? No, he could do this. "I'm okay, Kakashi-sensei."

He only nodded in reply. Naruto tried not to fidget too much when he stalked forward, he tried. Standing behind Sensei, with Sasuke to his left, Naruto got full visage of the battlefield. It was so much worse up close, he realised, the smell. Oh Kami, the smell. The rustic smell of freshly spilt blood and -… He didn't want to think about it.

"Hello, Zabuza," Sensei greeted pleasantly, like he didn't see the corpses sprayed around him. Like he didn't even care, like it didn't bother him at all. Not a bit. "Long time no see. I'll have to admit, for a moment there. I thought I'd killed you."

Naruto eyed the blurry figure in the distance, slowly getting clearing the more the trio of Konoha ninja stalked forward. To the blonde boys dawning horror, he could now make out that Ninja that they fought not four days ago happily standing by the bridge. Blood splattered his clothes but he didn't seem to notice.

Why did no one seem to notice just how much blood there was? Not even Sasuke seemed all too mindful. Why!? Why did no one care about all these dead men? Just caught in the crossfire! Naruto trembled.

"For a moment there, Copycat, I thought you had me as well," the figure replied, completely amused by the whole idea. "My apprentice, did seem to come in at exactly the right time though, eh, Haku?"

A figure stepped out from Zabuza's shadow, head bowed slightly – but Naruto wouldn't have been able to make out the face anyway. A mask halted any recognition he might have held. Except, it was the mask he recognised. "The Fake-Hunter-Nin. Not bad," Sensei allowed.

"Looks like we're going to have a pretty even fight, eh? Look, your students trembling in fear, tch."

Naruto stopped his movements, he wasn't scared. Not of Zabuza, no. Not of the Fake Hunter Nin, no. He was merely scared for the families of these men. He was terrified that they contained all that blood, how did someone manage to have so much blood in their system, anyway? But he wasn't scared of this fight. So, he had to stop acting like it.

"I'm certain he's just about to reach his sugar high," Kakashi-sensei joked. Naruto and Sasuke both looked at him incredulously. They were about to enter the fight of their lives, and he was making jokes?

Zabuza shrugged like this was of no real concern to him. "Have fun with the kid's Haku. Don't beat them up too badly," he smirked at Kakashi-sensei, like he was challenging him.

"I'm more worried for Haku than my students," Sensei replied easily. But Naruto knew better, he knew that his Sensei's shoulders tensed when the Mist-Nin had said that, he knew because he was staring right at them.

This Haku, the fake-Hunter-Nin lunged forward ready to take them on. Nearly at the same rate, Zabuza engaged Kakashi-sensei with a great swing of his sword, followed by… a wave of deadly spikes. Naruto wanted for a brief moment, to be able to watch his Sensei fight. It was going to be legendary!

Except, he needed to be busy making his own fight legendary. Haku started off by making rapid hand seals, wow! He was fast! Spikes, that were oh so similar to his, except well, they were made of ice. They came dangerously near the two Genin. Naruto blocked it with his strategically placed mud wall. Sasuke ran to the side of it, flipping to get behind this Haku.

Sasuke with a Kunai in hand, streamed forward only to be met with a clank of a senborn. Naruto gave it a wary stare – honestly, how could that little stick came to the same power as a knife? Really? Sasuke drew back, and tried again. Only to be blocked once again.

So Naruto decided to help. With a Kunai in hand, lunged to get the other side of Haku. He couldn't stop both of them! To only hear the unbelievable sound of metal hitting metal. This kid was managing to keep both of them away with only one senborn in each hand.

Sasuke and Naruto tried to tag team him and get away from him, but it seemed that they were evenly matched in terms of speed. Naruto frowned, he needed to be faster! He needed to be stronger!

The blonde boy accidently stumbled over one of the bodies littering the ground, and the boy, Haku, seized the opportunity from Naruto being momentarily distracted. Forming handseals with one hand, he went through a terrifying number and such a rapid pace. With only one hand!?

"Single handed Seals?" Sasuke muttered in disbelief, pushing himself away from Haku so he wouldn't possibly be caught in whatever Jutsu he was going to cast. This brought him closer to Naruto (most likely under the impression that Naruto would use his wall again if need be) which was apparently, the wrong move. The words that Haku spoke passed in a blur of frenzied syllables.

Naruto froze. What did he do?! Before he could even grasp that something was up, everything happened. Blocks of ice rose from the ground around the two Genin and trapped them in a box. Honestly, the ice grew to cover them – a failsafe, they weren't just going to jump out.

Naruto relaxed slightly. Ice. Sasuke knew a few fire Jutsu's. They'd be fine! Sasuke would just burn them all. A quick quirk of his eyebrow and Naruto knew that Sasuke was thinking along the same lines as he was. Naruto felt completely at ease, until he felt his pants leg slice open. Naruto looked down at the (quite shallow actually) cut that had begun to weep red tears.

Naruto looked around, bouncing on his heels. He couldn't even see the crazy guy! Where was he? "Naruto!" Sasuke's eyes were wide with horror, before he quickly preformed his best fireball technique. "Goukakyu-No-Jutsu!"

The ball of flame expelled out of the boys lungs, licking around the pane of ice that appeared to have been the one that the senborn had left from. Naruto smirked, ha! Slowly, this look faded form his face, and traded for a look of horror. Now that the fire died down, Naruto could clearly see that the fire had done nothing.

No scorch, not melted… The fire had given the ice a warm embrace and trickled out of the tiny gaps that were available. Desperately, Naruto threw a kunai at the nearest slab only to have it rebound against him, forcing him to duck – least he be injured by his own weapon! They were… trapped.

Naruto was trapped. Sasuke, though, wasn't one to try a method only once. He too, attempted to destroy the slabs with various uses of weapons that just rebounded against him. "It's no use," The fake-nin's voice rung out. Form where? Naruto had no idea. "The ice is impenetrable. As my Kekkei Genkai, it can only be damaged by something of equal strength. Something you do not have. Please, surrender yourselves."

"I don't surrender," Naruto yelled, his eyes squinted, trying to catch a glance of the boy. "If we did, you'll just go and hurt more people! I can't let that happen!"

"It was never my intention to hurt anyone," the voice responded, sounding just that little bit sadder. "But, it is my mission. So I will take you out."

"It's a stupid mission!" Naruto tried to reason, as he and Sasuke attempted to dodge each barrage of senborn that came after them. Naruto huffed, he couldn't keep dodging forever! "You're condemning the lives of everyone in this village. They'll all die! It'll be all your fault!"

A senborn stuck into his arm, him not being fast enough to dodge that one. A brief flare of pain went up, but it was easily ignored. "A regrettable consequence, I assure you. However, I must do of Zubuza-sama's behest."

"Why?" This time it was Sasuke who intervened. "Don't you realise that this is a fool's errand?"

What did that even mean? "No, for I am not the one losing."

Naruto watched in horror, with the amount of needles working their way towards Sasuke. He couldn't let him die. He couldn't. Sure he was a bastard but… what would Nee-chan say? The words filled him with a new sort of meaning. What would Genie-chan do if she was here? If she was him? Naruto lunged forward, taking the hits that were meant for the black haired boy.

"You freaking idiot!" Sasuke snapped when the force of the blow, forced him to his knees." Why would you do something like that!?"

Panic, maybe. Naruto felt dizzy, it hurt. It hurt. It wasn't enough, Sasuke would get hit right after he passed out. Naruto's lip quivered slightly, he was stronger than this. He would survive, he had to. He did. He would! Nothing would stop him!

Drawing all the energy in the world he could, Naruto stop up again. The energy the he tapped into, an unused portion of his chakra? It felt wrong. So wrong. So, so wrong. But it got him up. The strength in Naruto now was unbeatable. Glancing down, he saw his entire body was covered in red chakra.

The wounds were gone. Naruto felt some sort of power flow through him. What was this? What was happening to him? He had no time to question himself though, with this power, grew an almighty rage. Naruto swung his chakra coated fist towards the panel that the needles had come from.

It shattered. His fist had shattered it. After that one piece fell, so did all the others. Sasuke stood behind him, eyes opened wide, mouth agape. "Naruto..?"

The fake-Hunter-Nin was there standing, his mask, seemed to have fallen off when Naruto smashed through his Jutsu. The boy – or was he a girl's eye were wide, in horror or something else entirely. "What _are_ you?"

"Uzumaki Naruto!" he yelled, before surging forward with his newfound power and sucker punching the enemy nin. The boy…girl… clenched his/her stomach in pain. Naruto felt his rage take over, part of him told him to stop, the nice part. The part that reminded him of Nee-chan, but… that part was slowly becoming quitter with each passing moment, his mind slowly being taken over by is rage.

He was just so angry. He could this person try kill him. His team? All these people? With a scream, that sounded demonic – not that it hindered him in the slightest, if anything, he didn't even seem to notice, before he lunged forward and threw the hunter-nin. He threw him right into one of those polls that were keeping the bridge up, and he fell to the bridge.

Down, down. He was unconscious. Was he dead? Did he withstand that pressure? He didn't care. He was still angry. He needed, no, he _had_ to take out his rage, someone else needed to die. Someone had to die. What had they done to them? Those bastards!

"Naruto! Calm down!" he heard the silver-haired man yell, only to get hit by the man of equal height.

How dare that man tell him, to calm down? How dare that other man interpret him! No! They must die! They must fall victim of his rage. Those… Kill them! Naruto felt more power flowing through his veins, he felt himself grow more powerful with more of the energy he touched. His body stalked forward intent on the death of the two men in front of him.

Wait! No. He didn't want to hurt Kakashi-sensei! Yes he did! That bastard deserved it! Look at that damned cursed eye! The eye that needed to be punished! No! He didn't want to kill his teacher. What kind of monster did that make him?

Naruto's hand grabbed the edge of the second ninja's sword, ignoring the silver haired ones intervention. The blade cut deeper into his hand but he didn't flinch. A wide, demonic smile grew on his face. He laughed, as he tugged the blade forward. The shark like man let the sword go and Naruto chucked it over his shoulder.

Let it get those blasted children. What? No! Naruto didn't want to hurt his teammates, but, oh, yes he did! The man stepped back, cautiously looking between him and the other ninja. "Copycat, is that a…"

"Naruto snap out of it! Can you hear me? Listen to me! I'm your Sensei-," The silver haired man shouted, ignoring the other man, who seemed content to sit back and watch with a stunned look. He would die soon! By his hand!

Naruto's grin widened and he wasn't sure how that was possible, he took a swipe at Sensei! Man! He was so fast! The mismatched man jumped out of the way. Naruto snarled, how dare this person evade his tricks? He needed more power. More! No! He didn't! This was his Sensei!

Naruto felt himself give into more power, he had to kill the damned cursed eye! He would have his revenge! Revenge? Naruto didn't want revenge! Yes, he did! "Die monkey man!" Naruto hissed, his voice a few octaves lower than it normally was. Naruto's claws (when did he get those?) sharpened, as he hunched over, his pray in sight.

"Naruto. You don't want to hurt me."

Yes he did! No he didn't! Yes! No! The fight inside of his head was becoming torture. Who was he? Who was he arguing with? He needed to stop. Stop right now. "Copycat, I don't think that's working."

"What do you suggest?" Monkey-Man… Sensei! Snapped. "I will not let you harm my student! Naruto, think about Genie-san. Remember her. Yes? What would she be saying right now?! Would she want you to kill us all?!"

Naruto's body stopped, mere inches from the ninja. Genie-Nee? She'd be horrified. She'd understand, the voice assured. No, no. What if she was here? She'd get hurt, he couldn't. _She's not here!_ What she doesn't know won't hurt her! Naruto lunged forward, slashing across Monkey-Man's chest. Four bright red streaks of blood seeping through the tatters of his clothes.

The man grabbed his wrist. He snarled, the red coating flaring more. He could hold pure chakra! He'd burn his hand off! "Think about Genie-san. Think about your sister. Think Naruto! Do you remember what she said to you before you left!?"

She told him to be careful. This was careful, he was killing them before they could kill him. She'd understand that. Naruto tried to wrench his hand away from Sensei. "Would she want you to kill your teammates?"

She never liked Sensei anyway. But... yes she did. No, she cursed at him. Yes, she approved of him as a teacher. _No_, she called him a lazy bastard. _Yes_, she said he would help him if he played him right. Help him. Help him.

Nee-chan helped him. He couldn't. Yes you—no! This was his mind! He was in charge here! He was! Not this unknown anger! He would not hurt Kakashi-sensei! Those eye- No! He was Uzumaki Naruto and he was stronger than this! He was!

The red chakra faded, bit by bit – Naruto felt calmer more in control. The chakra disappeared, and he felt tired. So, so tired. So tired. Naruto opened his blue eyes, blue? Yes, his blue eyes and looked at the scene in front of him.

Half the bridge was ruined, rubble. He looked back to see Haku, the hunter-nin, he was thrown carelessly to one side… was that dint in the holding because of him? Had he truly thrown him that hard? It was all a blur, a haze. He had argued with himself, he hadn't wanted… Naruto's eye connected with his hand. Sensei's hand that had been covered in a glove before this, was red. Raw. Tatters of the glove he once wore were evident around his wrist.

He'd burned his Sensei's hand! He'd... Naruto's eyes locked into the four, oh my kami they were so deep! Gashes against Sensei's chest. He'd done that? Why had he done that? Naruto's lip started to tremble.

The villagers were right, he was a monster.

He'd hurt Kakashi-sensei. One of the only people who seemed to care about what happened to him.

He was a demon. They were right to avoid him. They were all so right. Sensei was going to hate him now too. He was going to tell Nee-chan, and she'd hate him. He couldn't bear the thought. Nee-chan was going to hate him!

Could he live with himself if he made Genie-chan hate him? "I-I-I," Naruto stuttered, he was turning into Hinata! Oh no! She would have seen what he just did… she was going to hate him as well! She was his first… his first friend! "W-w-was that. I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I-I…!"

The grip on his wrist slackened, and Naruto bowed his head to hide the tears welling up. This was it! Sensei was going to call him a demon. He was going to tell Nee-chan, and they'd both leave him. "Naruto," A voice he didn't want to hear, sounded from right by his face. "Naruto. Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Naruto looked up, slightly shocked, realising that he was now eye to eye with Sensei. Jeez, that eye was creepy. Naruto nodded his head. It was true, he was fine. He didn't have a single scratch… "I'm glad," Sensei smiled, moving his hand put ruffle the boys hair.

"Y-you don't hate me?" Naruto was ashamed about how lost he sounded.

"Hate you? If I did that, then I'd have no one to call my adorable blonde little Genin!"

Sensei was so weird. "Well, not that this isn't touching but… We were in the middle of a fight," Zabuza interrupted, Naruto's eye widened. Was that still happening? How could he forget! Was the Hunter Ninja okay!? Had Naruto… had he… had he killed him? Naruto's head snapped towards the long haired ninja.

Was that it? Did this guy deserve to be killed by him? The only thing he'd done was get on the wrong side of Naruto, and he was a monster. He didn't deserve being ripped to shreds by the likes of him! "Well, it looks like this fight let out just a little bit too early," a low voice rang out, laughter etched in every aspect of his tone.

Naruto's head snapped towards a short guy, who had a sort of mob behind him all holding shovels and pitchforks? Had they come to kill him then? The demon. "Gato," Zabuza greeted, mildly irritated. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I thought it was simple. I came to clear off all you insurgents while you're still weak from battle. Let's say, you have really torn this bridge asunder, haven't you?" His dark eye's glinted with humour and a little bit of greed. Naruto didn't like this. "You didn't think I was actually going to pay you, did you? You missing Nin are always so much easier to kill off than ones from a village."

"It appears you've been tricked," Kakashi-sensei hummed to Zabuza, his tone insufferably light, and his hand easily resting on Naruto's shoulder. How could Sensei even bear to touch him right now?

"It appears that you are correct, Copycat."

"There's no way you can-."

Before another word could be uttered out of the short man's mouth, his head lolled off his body completely. Next to him stood Zabuza his hand calmly holding the big sword he had. Gato, the short man fell to the ground with a thump. Naruto watched the blood spurt from the man's neck, going slightly green.

"Anyone else up for a little bit of the '_weakened'_ Demon of the Mist?"

The huge crowed was silent… and then they ran. Was it all over? "I suppose we no longer need to continue this fight. For the record, Copycat. I won."

"Nevertheless, I won the first round."

Were they really talking like they hadn't just tried to kill each other? What the heck!? Kakashi—sensei chuckled at his expression. "Your apprentice is alive. I can see his chakra."

Naruto slumped with relief, he hadn't killed anyone! That hardly meant he wasn't a demon though. Naruto looked over his shoulder to see Sasuke, Hinata and the old man cautiously approaching. Sensei waved them all over with his oddly cheerful nature. "Come guys, the fighting's over."

Naruto ducked his head when Sasuke gave him the strangest stare in the world. Naruto knew what he was thinking. Freak, Demon, Monster. "Did we win?" The old man asked cautiously.

Sensei looked at Zabuza, who shrugged. "Think what you want to think."

"W-What are you going t-t-to do now?" Hinata, surprisingly asked. With such strength in her voice!

Zabuza shrugged. "Eh, probably go collect a few bounties. Can't wait to see your heads in that little book of mine."

"It's a complement," Sensei assured his disturbed looking students. "If you have nothing of real importance… You know what I know you could do….?"

* * *

_Willow POV_

_Inari's Teahouse_

* * *

The pain had subsided, thank Merlin. It had gone. Well, not really, the fire that burned through her veins was still there, but the sharp stabbing pains were all but gone. She relaxed. Having withheld that pain for the last few hours, she felt like the pain she was in now was tolerable.

She just needed to distract herself. With lunch. A nice lunch from this world, that included boiled saury with salt, and a miso soup with extra eggplant. It sounded odd, but strangely, it was delicious. And a perfect counter for her terrible mood, afterwards, she was going to go eat dango. Because that was the most delicious surgery thing she could think of.

She missed treacle tart.

"Beautiful flower of Konoha," A loud voice greeted, causing her head to slip from its spot on her hand and slam into the table. Not now!

"Hello Gai," she mumbled into the hardwood table. "How are you?" she didn't bother moving from her spot. It was comfortable. She wasn't moving. She was in pain. Now this? Who hated her, again?

"I'm feeling wonderful on this very beautiful afternoon! Thank you! How are you?"

I feel like death, she responded mentally. "Great. Wonderful."

"Beautiful flower, had your dedicated younger brother yet returned from his mission to join us on our youthful training? My young Lee had missed his sparring partner!" Gai cried, tears of joy leaking out of his eyes. Willow groaned. She wished the boy would get home soon, then maybe, just maybe, she'd be free from this pain.

The pain that she had to distract herself from. "Not yet."

"Ah! The youthful flames of the first C-Rank. I remember my first youthful C-Rank! We patrolled the borders of Konoha in the midst of the Third Great War!" He beamed, apparently remembering the memory fondly. "I defeated three Iwa-Nin on a three to one duel."

She had no idea what the hell he just said. So she just nodded her head, plainly banging it into the table in the process. "Soon, Naruto-kun will realise his youth and become capable of such feats!"

"You've done wonderfully in teaching him," Willow said in an attempt to get him to stop being so loud. She was suffering damn it. Why wouldn't he be quiet? This wasn't what she had in mind when she was attempting to distract herself.

"You think so? Have I finally earned the most youthful, and coveted prize of all?" He had little stars in his eyes, and Willow was sure that it was a biological abnormality. Willow sighed.

"Yes, yes. Whatever. Next week," she brushed him off. All she wanted was comfort food. That's it. That's all.

"W-w-w…Yes! I've done it! I'll see you in a week, youthful, beautiful blossom!"

What the heck had she just agreed to? Willow hit her head on the table again. It didn't matter. She just prayed that Naruto would start returning home soon.

* * *

_Hatake Kakashi POV_

_Spare room at Tazuna's House_

* * *

His onyx eye stared out at the fidgeting boy in front of him. He looked so small, so innocent and absolutely terrified. The meekness did not suit the boy that Kakashi was beginning to like. This was Sensei's son, this was that crazy woman's son. He looked so terrified about what he'd possibly say to him now that they were alone.

Kakashi did not know how to start this conversation. He wasn't very good at connecting or empathising with other people's feelings. He hardly had time to accept his own – whatever crazy things those were. He knew though, that he couldn't simply say nothing. Naruto must be terrified about what had come over him at the bridge.

The hate that swirling in the compassionate boy's eyes had shocked him to his core. That moment was the one that he knew that it hadn't been Naruto in control of his body, but the Kyubi. The Kyubi could gain control of his body, the thought made him nervous. Then he realised, that Naruto controlled the demon. Not even knowing what he was doing, he fought it back.

This kid, could handle the truth. Kakashi cursed that no one had told the boy the truth. It was dangerous having Naruto in the field without the full knowledge of what he housed. A misstep, and outcry of emotion, and the beast could seize control. Naruto needed to be given special consideration, he needed to be taught how to suppress the demon within him.

The look of pure panic and self-loathing when he'd spotted the claw-like marks he'd created on his chest was enough to force him to realise this. Poor Naruto. He couldn't blame the boy for not being able to control what he hadn't known was there.

The Hokage, he knew, wouldn't be happy about this. Or would he? Naruto was bound to find out one way or another, even if he'd been expressively forbidden of telling him. Well, he didn't necessarily have to tell him directly, did he?

"Naruto, do you remember the Fourth Hokage?" Kakashi asked finally, deciding on the best way (for him) to tell the blonde boy.

"Yeah," the boy bit his lip, eyes downcast. Kakashi frowned from beneath his mask, not that the boy could see it. This did not suit him at all, he must be completely horrified by himself.

"Do you remember what happened around your birth, the disaster that was wrought?" Kakashi asked again, he needed to ease into the topic he knew. But he wasn't very sure how to ease into anything. He'd been blunt and straightforward his entire life. Even his time as a Black-OPS Captain hadn't required him to 'beat-around-the-bush.'

"The Kyubi attacked and the Forth killed it," Naruto responded, muttering his words.

"You can't kill a Biju Naruto. You can only seal one away, so that it won't hurt anyone. Sealing one away means that no one will get hurt from the Biju, he can't escape, can't leave. But, as a chakra construct – the sheer power it would take to destroy it would be otherworldly," he told the tiny kid. The boy looked at him with wide pained eyes, and it took all of his nerves not to run right back out that door.

His student needed him right now, he reminded himself. "Are you saying that I'm the Kyubi? That's why I went crazy and attacked you!? I am a demon!" Naruto yelled, and Kakashi realised with dawning horror that there were tears in the boy's eyes.

"No! No! Naruto! Look at me!" he demanded, and was slightly awed by the look of utter loathing on the boy's face. "You are not the Kyubi. You're just a little kid who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. The Kyubi is _sealed. _He can't hurt a soul."

"He wanted to kill you. I almost let him!"

"But you didn't," he said firmly, making sure the boy understood each word he was saying. "You stopped. You took control of the Demon and you threw him out. You showed great courage doing that, Naruto. It couldn't have been easy."

"But, I…"

"No. No Naruto. Is a Kunai sealed in a scroll dangerous?" he questioned. Naruto shook his head slowly. "Then neither is a demon sealed inside a pre-teen."

Naruto relaxed slightly, but Kakashi knew he wasn't fully over it. He had no idea what to say to the kid to make him fully see the picture. Why had he agreed to take on Genin again? He eyed the door for a moment, he wished he could take the way out that he normally did. He resisted the urge to sigh, he was stuck in this awkward position. Maybe, he should tell Genie-san – he was sure she'd smooth this out with Naruto.

Though, he couldn't be sure how the woman would take it. He was sure she wouldn't care, but what would the Hokage do if he found out Kakashi had told 'someone of interest' one of Konoha's most guarded secrets? He shrugged his shoulders, no, he hardly thought it mattered any more. He'd already broken that rule once today. What was breaking it another time?

* * *

Third Hokage's POV

Hokage's Office

* * *

"What do you mean; 'missing book on sealing theory.' You can't possibly be telling me, that the _only_ book on sealing theory in Konoha, not with my errant student… was misplaced from the Jonin section, but then lost?!"

The Chunin nodded his head slowly, inching himself out of the room. "I have half a mind to fire you all right now!"

The Chunin cringed back from his irate leader. Honestly, today was not his day. Or his week, or even his month! Before the Hokage could let out another scathing remark, he was interrupted by a knock on his door. "Enter!" He barked.

The door was opened by another one of the Chunin that manned the completed mission desk. The only reason she would need to speak to him was if someone had messed up their mission and needed to be debriefed by him instantly. The Hokage scowled darkly.

He was defiantly too old for this job. This month he'd been more stressed than the entirety of his career! "Team Seven have returned from their mission to Wave… but uh, Sir... I think you need to see this to believe it. Sir."

"Send them in."

She nodded her head nervously and the other Chunin in the room looked at him nervously waiting to be dismissed. He reluctantly let him go. He'd needed to have a through word with all the Chunin stationed in that area. Seriously. The aged Kage's eyes followed the line of ninja steaming into his office.

Why were there more ninja returning from the mission than he'd sent out? Kakashi, Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, Hyuga Hinata, the ….demon of the mist!? And another young charge that he wasn't really sure about the name of. The Hokage laced his fingers together, wondering what on earth had caused the strange tension in the team in front of him.

It couldn't be the… missing ninja!? He was way too old for this! "Will someone explain to me, what the demon of the mist is doing in my office?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, you see old man. There was a fight but the people who we were fighting against, their boss flaked and now here we are."

That… made no sense. The Hokage's eyes focused on the beaming boy, but… something was off. What was bothering the bright boy? "Thank you Naruto-kun, but that was directed at your illustrious teacher. Now, Kakashi-kun? Care to share?"

"Well, Hokage-sama," Kakashi began, laughing nervously. "You see, it went downhill from the moment that we had to fight Zabuza here, who was hired to kill our client."

The Hokage's eye twitched. "I gave you a C-Rank. _C-Rank. _Not even _you_ could have messed it up!"

"Somewhere along the line it became a 'B' rank," Kakashi kept going like he hadn't heard the leader's words. "Anyway, there was a bit of double crossing and in the end. They were on our side. Look, we've got you some pretty good allies."

The Hokage sighed. This was not like Kakashi to bring back someone he had faced… alive. "How does the easiest, most clear-cut, boring mission end up like this?" He asked. "I hated to remind you Hatake. But, when I say; 'you have one job'. I mean it."

"Sorry about that," Kakashi replied sheepishly. "But this should make up for all the… problems we've had the last few months, eh? Hokage-sama?"

"I'm demoting you."

"Okay, who are going to take the Genin then?" Kakashi asked cheerfully. The Hokage felt that the man was much too happy with this prospect.

He paused. "I'm suspending you from any active missions, _other_ than with your Genin."

"So cold," he grouched and now he could see he'd finally done something that earned his ire. "Yes, sir."

"As for the rest of you. Congregations on your first 'B' Rank! Your pay slips will be there on your way out. Coincidently, Naruto, is the apartment next to yours still free?" The Hokage asked, his mind spinning with a multitude of different plans.

"Yeah, the whole floors free, as always," Naruko-kun answered dully. Why was he so… down?

"Excellent, normally. I'd ask you to escort them down to T&amp;I Kakashi, but I'm not sure you're up to the task," The Hokage grumbled.

"Don't trust me," Kakashi agreed easily.

"You three can go off home, enjoy your time off," he waved off the Genin, Naruto hesitating slightly before leaving. Did the boy want to talk to him? He'd wait by the door if he did. "Now. Kakashi, I don't know why you can't follow simple orders, but, please. Give me the real story."

"Sir, in my defence. I didn't know her name-" Kakashi began, obviously trying to steer the conversation away from what he wanted. He wasn't too sure if steering the conversation into the waters of his latest failure was a good idea.

"We've been over this Kakashi. Full report, or do I need to send you to Ibiki as well?"

Kakashi groaned shuffling his feet, then he paused. "I wouldn't mind it actually."

"I'll make you Hokage," he threatened, knowing it was the last thing Kakashi wanted. The thought though, had been in his mind for quite a long time. He really was getting too old to handle the day-to-day stress of the Hokage, and really, he didn't have anyone else to give the Hokage's hat to, did he? Kakashi wouldn't be so willing to break all the rules if he was the one who had to enforce them, now would he?

It was a thought for a bit later, but by the day he'd been having, he felt like he needed to start actively considering it. "Anything but that," Kakashi blurted out, stepping back, cautious. "It started approx. three hours out of Konoha when Team 7 was attacked by…"

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the two missing nin exchange glances. Obviously wondering what they'd gotten themselves into. A Hokage who was having a very, very bad day. Well, that and a Jonin who seemed to be able to get away with everything he wanted to.

* * *

_Willow POV_

_Naruto's Apartment_

* * *

The second Naruto was back in Konoha, she knew. The feeling of absolute lightness, the dizzying feeling of being completely free. The pain stopped until she felt normal again. Normal. It was over! Done! She was never leaving that kids side again! Ever!

She was being a little over dramatic, but when the door squeaked open to reveal a tired, worn out little boy. She could help but jump at him, grabbing his delicate little shoulders and hugging him for all he was worth. "Naruto! I missed you so much! Are you a right? Did you get hurt? Did you have fun? Did you want Ramen?" she shot them off so fast, it was a wonder that she didn't start calling herself Naruto now.

Willow paused in shock when she felt the boy's tears soak through her shirt. "Naruto?" she looked down at the boy who was clutching her shirt, tears streaming down his face, bit not making a sound. She recognised that pain. "It's going to be okay. I'm here now. You're safe. You're here. It's going to be okay. You're going to be okay. Everything is going to be just fine," she repeated softly into the boy's hair.

She needed to find Hatake Kakashi and get some answers from the annoying Ninja.


	9. Chapter 9

**Ain't Never Had a Friend like Me?**

* * *

_**Willow POV**_

* * *

Willow Faye Potter was a number of things. One of the main things she prided herself on was her loyalty. Having tried to calm down a 12 year old, who by all rights, was a complete mess? She figured that she deserved answers. The only thing she was able to get out of Naruto was the word; 'monster', before he closed off and refused to say another word on the matter.

Willow had to hold the boy until he fell asleep. Her eyes were twitching about five minutes after that feat was made. She glanced down at the tear-stained boy, not sure if she should stay (in case he woke up), or she should hunt down his teacher and force him to tell her what happened. As it were, she was feeling wonderful now the Genin was back in Konoha, and her mind was clear and thinking properly.

She cast a spell that would tell her when anyone in this room was waking up. The second the kid decided to wake up, she would be back. She needed answers. How was she meant to help the kid, if she had no idea what she was helping the damn kid with? Willow walked out of the apartment as quietly as she could. Quickly grasping her wand, she muttered; "point me Hatake Kakashi."

The wand spun in the palm of her hand for a few moments, before resolutely pointing to her left. Putting the stick away, she walked down the stairs and followed the direction it was pointing in. She traipsed though a few bushes, upon which she would check her direction again, and passed completely through a river – which she only realised later that she actually could have avoided that and gone around it.

So by the time she saw a head of spiky silver hair, she was dripping wet (honestly, if there wasn't so many people around she could have cast a drying charm), and in the beginnings of a terrible mood. She caught the teacher's eye quickly, and he shuddered and took a step back, almost like he planned on running from the situation completely.

Unfortunately for him, one of the two men he seemed to be with had been standing behind him, and he promptly crashed into him – sending the long haired boy stumbling. The other man, a tall sort of imposing fellow with extremely sharp teeth gave him an unimpressed look. "How did you beat me?"

Kakashi shrugged his shoulders uneasily as she approached him, his only visible eye darting around the place, looking for a way out. The two others, obviously noting his discomfort finally noticed her form marching towards them. The younger boy, who could only be a few years older than Naruto, watched her with a sense of wariness, whilst the other unknown had a massive grin forming on his face.

"Hatake Kakashi, just the idiot I was looking for," Willow snapped upon reaching them, shooting him a glare. He had told her that the mission would be easy, and that they'd be able to get through it with little to no harm. Naruto had obviously been thoroughly traumatised, plus, she'd had a bad past few days.

"Ah, yes. Well you see, I'd love to stay and chat but, I have many places to be. A black cat to rescue, and all that," Kakashi said cheerfully, turning to walk into the long-haired boy again.

"Not so fast. You are going to explain to me exactly what happened on that mission of yours."

Kakashi sighed, gesturing to the people he was with. "You see, official business, Conducting a tour of Konoha to our, uh… new recruits!"

Willow ground her teeth, her eyes flashing dangerously. She was cold, tired and worried. This man was not going to distract her with excuses. He was the most annoying person she'd ever met. "You're the most annoying person I've ever met," Willow told him, her eyes narrowing further. "You're not running away. You are going to tell me exactly why I have a distraught 12 year old curled into a ball, refusing ramen."

"He refused Ramen?"

Willow nodded her head, that last bit had worried her. Naruto never refused ramen! Ever! "Ah… I see. Well, we ran into a few complications on the mission. Uhm. It's something we should really not be talking about. It's classified."

Classified? Willow took a step forward threatening but the man just stepped back for each step she took, finally managing to avoid the long-haired boy. "Classified? Classified? Naruto hasn't stopped crying for the last _four hours_!"

She felt bad about letting Naruto's teacher and these people, whoever they were know about Naruto's current state. But maybe she'd be able to guilt him into telling her something. Anything! Kakashi's hand twitched, but he said nothing in retaliation. "Look, Genie-San," Willows entire being twitched at her new name. Kakashi cringed backwards obviously taking this as a negative sign about how close she was to beating the shit out of him. "It was just an eye opening experience for everyone."

Green eyes twitched, and tiny fists were created. She twitched again, he would tell her. He would. "Have you met Haku?" Kakahsi tried, pulling the long-haired boy forward – pushing him towards her. "He's a friend of Naruto's. They got along so well on the mission."

Willow's eyes trained on the kid, Haku, and she smiled – before throwing another glare over his shoulder at the man using a fourteen year old kid as a shield. "Excellent, then Haku will be able to tell me what happened on the mission then."

Something flashed across the Hatake's eye momentarily, not that she could depict the emotion, before his eye curved into a smile. "Actually, Haku and Zabuza here are moving into the apartment right across from Naruto. Would you mind showing us the way, Genie-Chan?"

A blank look filtered over her face, she was momentarily confused. How did he know that it was the apartment across from Naruto's? Granted, it was empty, but… still. "…Okay?"

"Excellent!" The man chirped brightly. "Lead the way."

He was bipolar. She swore he was bipolar. "Are you bipolar?" She asked the man, giving him a hesitant look. Zabuza, the older man, snorted loudly.

"It would explain a lot, actually," Zabuza agreed.

"If I'm bipolar, than you're bipolar." The silver haired man waved the both of them off, and took off in the direction that Willow had approached them in. "Incidentally, what happened to you on your way here?" Kakashi asked, throwing her a look over his shoulder that clearly indicated that she should 'hurry up'.

Willow shook her head and began to walk, standing in the middle of the two new-comers. "I fell into the river," she said shortly. She wasn't admitting that she hadn't been paying attention when she was using magic in an attempt to find him.

"You _fell _into the river? Maa, I didn't peg you for the ditzy type, Genie-_Chan_." His eye strayed towards her clothes sticking unattractively on her body. Her eye twitched violently. She really did wish he wouldn't stare so openly, it made her feel awkward – and she didn't really understand _what _exactly he thought he was looking at. It wasn't like there was much to look at.

"I swear to Merlin, you bloody ponce-"

"What's a M_er_-lin?" Zabuza cut off the beginning of her angry rant, curious. Her eyes widened when she realised exactly what she'd said. What the hell had she been thinking? Oh wait, she hadn't been. She'd said _Merlin, _if that didn't put off any warning bells. She was an idiot!

"Uh…" Willow muttered, biting her lip – eyes finding the ground extremely interesting. "It's a name?"

"You're swearing to a name?" Kakashi asked cheerfully, sounding like he was about to start laughing at her. She'd kill him one day. He turned down a side street, the other three people following him. That's when Willow realised that she wasn't actually leading them towards Naruto's apartment. Kakashi was. What was the bloody ponce thinking?

Willow rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly, a trait that she'd picked up from spending too much time with the male Weasley brothers. "…Don't you?"

"I prefer normal swear words," Zabuza commented non-committedly. "Shit, fuck, prick, bloody…"

"We get the point, Zabuza-Sama," Haku interrupted, a slightly distasteful look on his extremely girlish face. Seriously, here was a boy, years younger than she was, and prettier than she was. This boy was really, really pretty.

"Take the shortcut down that ally," the Witch commented, throwing her arm out to point to the dank little ally that she always used to cut five minutes off her walk to Naruto's apartment. The Ninja's shoulders moved upwards, and changed his path so that he walked down the dark ally.

Silence rained down on the foursome, and she just stared at the damp rocks that made up the walks of the building they were walking amongst. Sometimes she'd be able to recognise pictures in the stone, she wasn't even if they were there at times, or if it were her boredom creating pictures in her mind. "It's in that building. The sixth floor," Willow mentioned gesturing to an old, peeling building.

To her slightly surprise, it was Zabuza to wrinkle his nose at the sight of the disgusting building. Huh, she'd pegged Haku for being the one who wouldn't be able to stand the sight of the building, but he seemed content in the rundown building. She shouldn't really peg someone's personality by who they look, she scolded herself. Willow trudged in behind the silver-haired Ninja, stumbling up the stairs towards Naruto's apartment.

Coming to a stop on the sixth level, Willow froze, not sure what was going to happen now. Kakashi wasn't making his escape that was for sure. "Here's the key," Kakashi said, throwing a little silver thing at the taller man. "Let's leave these two to get a good look at their new apartment, eh? Genie-Chan? We'll be in here," he gestured towards the door of Naruto's apartment, giving the other ninja a little wave.

Zabuza shrugged, forcing the key into the keyhole and snapping it to the side so hard that the key snapped off in the keyhole. She watched him with wide eyes, how much strength would that take? Luckily, she guessed the door swung open – even if he didn't have a key. "You would have another one of those, would you Copycat?"

"They don't just hand bags of keys to everyone getting new crappy apartments, sorry."

Zabuza shrugged. "Eh, it's to like I'd be able to get it out anyway. Let's hope we don't get robbed, eh, Haku?"

"Of course, Zabuza-Sama."

The door swing shut behind them, Willow blinked. "I'm not too sure of what I just witnessed."

"I'm not sure you _want_ to know."

Willow nodded her head slowly, gesturing towards the door. Kakashi actually flinched before she opened the door and gestured for him to go in first. He wasn't running away from this discussion. "Where's Naruto?" he asked softly, like he didn't want to catch the blonde's attention.

"Asleep," Willow hesitated. "And if it's all the same to you. I would want it to stay that way for a while longer."

"No, Naruto being asleep is preferable," he confided looking around the spotless apartment, his eyes not focusing on anything of particular importance. Willow sat down at the kitchen table in her normal seat, leaving Kakashi to take the one opposite her. He moved slowly, like he was trying to stall the conversation.

"Sit," Willow hissed, and he imminently sat down on the table. So fast that it almost gave her whiplash. "Now, explain to me what happened. In excavating detail, would help."

Kakashi was hesitating, he traced a few lines that were etched in the wooden table before he gathered himself together enough to form a response. "To start with, the mission wasn't all it appeared to be. We were facing off against people that were evenly pared with me, and leagues out of Naruto and his teammate's league," he warned, lounging back, a picture of ease. Except, she noticed how tense his shoulders were.

"That's a promising start," Willow muttered sarcastically.

"Promising for disaster, maybe," Kakashi snorted, rolling his one good eye back. "There was quite a bit of fighting, and a number of casualties. But it came to a point where I wasn't able to be there to make sure Sasuke and Naruto came to no harm," he hesitated. "How long have you been in Konoha for?"

Willow raised an eyebrow. How had he realised that she wasn't born and breed in Konoha? "How do you know I wasn't born in Konoha?" she challenged, her mind spinning with ways she could have possibly let the whole thing slip. She thought she'd covered her tracks quite well, all things considered.

"Your exotic looks for one, even the colouring of your hair and eyes is atypical. That, and you have an accent," he was shrugging by the end of that statement. She had an accent? Of course she had an accent! She thought that these people had a funny way of twisting their words, she'd never anticipated them thinking she had a strange way of twisting words.

"There are other redheads in Konoha," she frowned, glaring at the table darkly for being caught out so easily. "I've been here for a few months."

A silver eyebrow rose at the mention of mere months in Konoha. What had he expected? "Not any with hair so bright. This isn't going to be easy. You are familiar with the Bijū, right?" Kakashi asked, a grim tone entering his voice as he lowered it once again.

A what? The wave of confusion she felt at his words must have shown on his face because he raised his eyebrow once again. "What rock do you live under?" he questioned, almost unbelieving.

"A big one," she responded dryly, and Hatake snorted. This must have been something that almost everyone in this universe knew about then. "What's a Be-iju, then?"

"Bijū," he corrected absentmindedly. "Mostly referred to as tailed beasts, or Chakra Monsters. They're living forms of chakra, there's nine in total, each having a certain notch of power ranging from one to nine. You can tell which is which by the amount of tails they have. They're beasts worthy of great fear, they could wipe out a village with just the wave of a tail. Twelve years ago, the Kyubi – The nine-tailed Bijū, attacked Konoha and almost exterminated the entire village from existence."

"What happened?" Willow asked, wondering where this story was going to, and why he was telling her about these creatures, when he was meant to be explaining why Naruto was behaving so strangely. "Did someone manage to kill it?"

"You can't kill one, it's impossible. Do you know what a jinchūriki is?" He asked, hesitating after he told her that they couldn't be killed. How the hell had they managed to defeat the Kyubi, then? Willow shook her head slowly. "Have you heard about Fūinjutsu?"

Willow's eyes momentarily danced over to the book innocently sitting over on the counter not three feet from where they were currently. Kakashi's eye narrowed in on the cover. "…Is that from the Konoha library? ….That's a _Jonin _level book."

"Ah, I thinks its best that you don't ask questions. Just answer them," Willow said, she could feel herself slowly turning pink in embarrassment. "I know slight basics. It's one of your Ninja tricks. You create patterns with ink, and then it creates a sort of… effect?"

"Yes and no. We do create, it's mostly writing, we write down in the form of symbols placed next to each other until it does what we intend for it to. It's rather difficult because if an odd-numbered seal is placed too close to an even-numbered seal, things imbalance, and... Well… You don't want to know," he explained blandly. "One of the main things it's used for its ability to seal things into other thigs. Like a Kunai, one of those _'sharp pointy things'_ into a scroll, understand?"

Willow nodded her eyes wide, the book she'd been reading hadn't really told her any of that about odd and even numbered seals. She wondered what would happen if she channelled her magic into the seals instead of chakra like you were meant to. Would it work any different? "It could also be used to seal something like a Bijū into a human. This is what a Jinchūriki is."

"You trap them inside of humans?" Willow asked, horror etching on her face. He wasn't suggesting what she thought he was, was he? "A _sentient_ _being_? That's a breach of _rights_!"

She could easily see the frown lines from behind the mask. "I'm not sure you understand what a Bijū is like. They will kill everything in their sights. There's no reasoning with them, if you got that close to one, you'd be dead."

It was now Willow's turn to frown. That's what the Ministry and all the pure bloods always said about creatures like Werewolves. Most of the time they were docile, harmless humans. Sometimes they just lost control, yes, and sometimes there were actually vile ones. That was like with humans though. "Well, they mightn't kill everything in sight if you didn't seal them away at every chance!"

He gave her an odd look. Oops. "Right. While, the Forth Hokage sealed the Kyubi into a newborn. The thing about Jinchūriki, they are normal people but they have the ability to tap into the untameable power of the Bijū. Now, can you imagine what it'd be like to be unaware of your status of a Jinchūriki?"

"Why did no one tell him?" she asked horrified, her mind flashing back to her sixth and would-be seventh years of Hogwarts. Why did no one tell her that she had part of Voldemort living in her head? "You didn't think he deserved to know?"

"It was by the Hokage's order that no one was ever to be allowed to tell anyone of the status of Konoha's Jinchūriki. Not even the Jinchūriki himself was exempt from this law," he explained.

Willow hesitated about to point out that he'd obviously just broken that law, and if by Naruto's behaviour, he'd obviously told the blonde haired boy as well. "I never said anything. I just explained what a Jinchūriki and a Bijū was," Kakashi muttered offhandedly, somehow reading her thoughts. "It's not my fault that you have just enough intelligence to connect the dots."

Willow was silent for a moment, her mind spinning. She watched as Kakashi awkwardly leaned over the back his hair to grab the book she had lying open, to thumb through the pages. If the blonde boy was feeling anything like she did when she found out about Voldemort…. If he thought he was in anyway influenced by the Bijū. What would he think of himself? Would he be calling himself disgusting, evil?

A monster, she realised. He'd muttered to her about monster before. Had he been calling himself one? She had to make sure that adorable little kid realised that he wasn't a monster! Merlin… This must be why some people treated Naruto with so much distain. The simple-minded idiots took their frustrations with the Bijū out on Naruto.

"He heals quickly," she said finally. A lone onyx eye flickered from the sealing book back over to Willow. "It's not normal… is that… because of the Kyubi?"

"Most likely," he rubbed his chest almost absent minded. "I won't ask how you have this book, but… I'm going to ask you not to let Naruto trying make any explosives without me present."

"The books not there for Naruto to read," she replied, her mind wondering over the information he'd given her. Not even bothering to realise what she was saying, her mind was just focused on Naruto and who he must be feeling right now.

"Why would a civilian want to learn about Fūinjutsu?" Kakashi asked.

"Morbid curiosity," she rebuked. "Actually, you seem knowledgeable. More so that that thing," she glanced back to the book in slight disgust. "Why don't you teach me about all the dark depths of seals?"

"Why would I do that?"

"So that the Hokage doesn't find out you told Naruto about a really big secret?" Willow said, a grin forming on her face. His eye narrowed at her. "Not to mention that civilian you told as well."

"How is it that you've somehow managed to successfully blackmail an elite Jonin, not once, but three times?" he asked, slumping his shoulders forward. Willow's lips twitched upwards, success. "Most ninja in Konoha haven't even manage that _once_."

"I'm talented," Willow responded dryly. She watched as Hatake Kakahsi rolled his eyes and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like; "clearly."

* * *

**Willow POV**

**Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

"Hey kid, want pancakes?"

"No, not really," Naruto answered, moodily looking at the cactus on the centre of the table.

"Ramen?" she tried again.

"No."

"What would you like to eat then?" she asked, again. Wondering what she needed to say to Naruto to bring up what happened on his mission. She couldn't just start with; 'so you have a Bijū sealed inside you, huh?'

"I'm not hungry."

"You haven't eaten dinner last night, or breakfast this morning. Of course you're hungry," Willow responded, in what she felt was an extremely rational manner.

"Well, I'm not!" Naruto snapped, slamming his hand against the table. Willow felt so out of her depth. She'd been the epitome of 'uncontrollable teen' but for some reason, she felt like this wouldn't apply to Naruto. She'd been wrong, naturally.

"Sorry, sorry!" She said, only a hint of sarcasm in her words, not that the boy seemed to notice. Which inwardly she was glad for, after all, she didn't want to spark another argument because of the tone of her voice. She hated teenagers.

The sound of someone knocking, if that pounding could even be referred to as knocking, that is, filled the room. "I'm going to-" her words were cut off the second they started leaving her mouth because the door swung open and Zabuza pranced through the living room, with Haku a few steps behind him. The boy even politely closed the door behind him.

"Zabuza-Sama, you can't just enter someone's house. It's impolite."

"I knocked, didn't I, Haku?" The black-haired man questioned rolling his eyes.

"Normally the person on the other side of the door opens it and invites you in," Willow commented dryly, wondering what the hell these people were doing waltzing into their apartment at six in the morning. Hadn't she locked that damn door? "Only normal people though."

"There's the mix up, we," he gestured with his thumb to Haku, who was looking quite ashamed to be with Zabuza right at that moment. "Aren't normal people. We're recently settled missing nin, who have no money, no food – and are hungry."

"And no key," Haku mumbled under his breath, looking even more uncomfortable than he had been previously. "I apologise for barging in Genie-San, Naruto-San. We haven't had the chance to eat last night, nor do we have the funds as of yet to buy anything this morning. We were on our way to ask Hatake-Sama but…"

"I'm hungry," Zabuza complained like that answered all of the questions Willow had. In this guy's mind though, she figured, it did answer all her questions.

"You hear that kid? You going to eat with them, or?" Willow said taking the advantage to bother Naruto about actually eating something. He needed to eat _something, _she didn't want him to starve, after all. Maybe, if there was a kind of group pressure on him not to starve to death…

"I said I wasn't hungry!" The words left his mouth and before she knew what was happening, he was out of his chair and she heard the door to his bedroom slam shut.

"….Is Naruto-San okay?"

Willow shrugged her shoulders. "Why don't you go talk to him?" the turned to the brown-haired boy. "You're about the same age. I always felt better when I got to talk to Hermione…"

"Of course, Genie-San," he bowed his head, before making his way over to Naruto's bedroom, lightly knocking on the door before entering.

"I hate teenagers," Zabuza rolled his eyes. "Drama, drama. Do you have any Sake?"

Willow blinked, what on earth was Sake? "No?"

He sighed, running his hand over his face mournfully. "What kind of household are you running with no alcohol? What do you have to eat? Any precooked rice?"

"It's six in the morning, I don't think you should be drinking," Willow said hesitating slightly. Sake was alcohol? Anyway, who ate rice for breakfast? "I'll make pancakes, or something?"

"Eh, whatever."

Willow burgled about in the kitchen, attempting to create food out of thin air, whilst wondering what Haku and Naruto could be talking about in the confines of his room. Honestly, she heard no shouting and nothing breaking, so she felt things were going well. With a sigh, she cracked an egg into a big clear bowl, which she'd managed to score for free from her past job as a Ramen Chef.

"What exactly is a missing nin?" Willow asked finally, trying to break the awkward silence that had descended on the two adults. "You called yourself one before. Is that another rank?"

"It means that I betrayed my village, and am a dangerous killer with no loyalty, don't worry, you'll get used to me."

"I'm almost afraid to ask why you're in Konoha then," Willow commented, but she was a Gryffindor, so... "But I will ask."

"Job opportunity, and – a neighbour that's going to cook free food, and go buy Sake," he grinned broadly, causing her to feel slightly uncomfortable. He dragged one of the chairs away from the table so that she could sit down by the counter she was preparing food at. Willow almost snorted, she was making a friend, with a dangerous killer. Good on her.

"I don't think I should have Sake in this house with Naruto in it, can you imagine if he accidently drinks it?" she shuddered, thinking about a Naruto who actions became even more bold and unpredictable.

Zabuza shrugged his shoulders unconcerned. "I think he was my age when I first drank Sake. No big deal. Honestly. Are you not old enough to buy alcohol or something?"

Willow frowned again. She had no idea how old she was. No clue whatsoever. But, she had been twenty one when she was trapped in that vile creation of a lamp. So, was that the age she should claim to be? It's not like the time she spent in that void was anything worth remembering. "I'm twenty one, thank you very much."

"Bullshit."

Green eyes widened at the Ninja. "I'm serious! I know I don't look that old but, I'm serious!"

Willow was putting the finishing touches on her mixture at that point. "How many 'pancakes' will that make?"

"Around thirty, I'd say," Willow answered, almost thrown by the sudden question. She'd made that many just in case Naruto decided he wanted to eat after all. Maybe she could send Haku in there… well, after he came out again.

"Double it."

"But-"

"Trust me," something flashed across his eyes for a moment, and she swore it was amusement. "You'll learn, very soon, the Ninja all eat a lot."

Willow rolled her eyes, had she accidently made a friend with a dangerous killer because he wanted free food? Well, damn.

* * *

**Naruto POV**

**Naruto's Room**

* * *

If the person knocking on his door didn't stop, then Naruto would throw a Kunai at them. Unless it was Willow-Chan, then he wouldn't. But it wasn't her, because she would be yelling at him to open the door by now. She had no patience, and as a matter of fact, neither did Naruto.

"Go away!" Naruto yelled at the door, hoping that the person on the other side actually listened to him. The knocking paused for a brief moment, before it started back up again. Grumbling, Naruto got up and crossed the tiny space that made up his room and wrenched open the door to glare up towards the really pretty boy standing there.

"I'm sorry Naruto-San, Genie-San has asked me to ensure that you are alright," Haku said, bowing his head politely. Man, this guy was so strange. Why did he talk that way? All stiff and formal?

"I'm fine," Naruto grumbled, throwing him a dark look before retreating back into his room and hiding under his bright orange blanket again. Haku watched this happen, before following him into the room, softly closing the door behind him. Naruto scowled, that hadn't been in invitation into his room.

"You seem agitated, Naruto-San. Would you like to talk about it?" The boy asked kindly, crossing his arms in a way that hid them in the opposite sleeves. Naruto paused for a moment, he did want to talk about it, but he wasn't sure if he was actually allowed too. He didn't even know until a few days ago.

Plus, why would he want to tell anyone that he was a demonic monster that killed hundreds of people? Sure, Sensei had said that he wasn't a monster but… he remembered those scars he left on him. He remembered the three long red gashes. Only a monster would do something like that to his Sensei. What if he lost control again? What if he accidently hurt Willow-Chan, like he had Kakashi-Sensei?

Would he be able to live with himself? No. In the end, all Naruto did was stay silent, but Haku didn't pressure him. "If it helps, I have a story that I might like to share with you."

Naruto's head perked up a little bit. He did love stories. Especially the one's the Willow-Chan told him about Genie School. She seemed to have so much fun. Naruto hadn't even known Genie's needed to go to school, but apparently, Genie's couldn't actually do everything!

"I'll take that as a yes then," Haku said good-naturedly, even though Naruto's silence. This made the boy start to feel a little bit guilty. Why was he taking this out on someone as nice as Haku? That really did make him a monster!

"This story is about a boy that was born in a small, snowy village in the Land of Water. In this country those whom possessed the genetic trait called a Kekkei Genkai were hunted down, and horrifically killed. People feared those who possessed such an ability, they hated them without cause. Now this boy lived on a small farm, with his mother and father, but the mother had a secret. She and her child, both possessed a Kekkei Genkai. When the father found out, he went to the villagers, who soon became a mob – set out to kill the mother and child."

"What happened?" Naruto asked, forgetting his previously sour mood, intrigued by what would happen. Why would the father sentence his child and wife to death like that?

Haku smiled, albeit a bit sadly. "The mother was killed, but the child, not knowing what he was doing – used his Kekkei Genkai to escape, killing half of the crowed. Injuring his father, whom he did dearly love. The child was cast out on the streets, having only scraps to survive off, until the day he was found by a shinobi. This shinobi saw the potential in him, and asked him to be his weapon, the boy accepted and finally found a purpose to live. With this man, the boy learned to control the power, and he used it to help the shinobi, and himself out of numerous dangerous situations."

"What happened next?" Naruto pressed.

"Well, the boy and the shinobi travelled all through the world, completing missions together. Do you understand the story, Naruto-San?" Haku pressed.

Naruto scratched the back of his head slowly. It was a sad story at the start, but it turned into a happy one and Naruto really wasn't very sure what Haku was asking. Haku smiled. "The powers that could be utilised by a Kekkei Genkai were feared and hated. But they could be controlled, and it wasn't the power that made the person terrible, it was the way it was used."

"Oh yeah?" Naruto asked, not thinking this guy had any right to be able to say that too him. It might have been right about that guy, but he wasn't that guy. "How'd you know that guy didn't end up being evil?"

"That 'guy' was me," Haku answered simply. Naruto's eyes widened and his jaw dropped, and he tried to apologise. Haku wouldn't hear anything of it though. "You don't need to apologise. Whatever it was that you harnessed that knocked me out, and injured your Sensei – I have every faith that you can control it, Naruto-san."

"Yeah, but," Naruto hesitated slightly. Should he tell Haku? Why would he tell Haku when he wouldn't even tell Willow-Chan…? Screw it! "I wasn't born with that power. It was sealed into me."

"You're a Junjuriki?" Haku asked with superise. Naruto flinched at the term and Haku bowed his head, looking awfully sorry.

"Yeah, of the Kyubi," Naruto answered bluntly, staring at the boy like he was daring him to call him a monster and run off.

"The same message still applies, you can control the Kyubi. You can harness its power without losing control of it. It's happened with many other Junjuriki, why wouldn't it with you?" Haku posed the question, seating himself on the side of Naruto's bed. Naruto was half wormed out of his blanket by this point.

"I almost killed Kakashi-Sensei!"

"The power _was_ overwhelming. I assume this was the first time you harnessed the power?" Haku questioned lightly, playing with the sleeve of his pink Kimono. Naruto nodded uncertainly. "Well then, you just need practice with how to control it. I'd ask your Sensei, but if he won't help… I could ask Zabuza-sama, he helped me control my ice without knowing how to."

"Really?" Naruto asked, his eyes wide. "Do ya… do ya think I should tell Nee-Chan?"

Haku nodded his head solemnly. "When you have something that you truly wish to fight for and protect, this is when you truly become a strong shinobi. Genie-san is the person whom you wish to protect, as she does you. You need to be open and sharing with the ones that we love."

"But… but… what if she hates me? Like… the dad, and the villagers of your story…" Naruto already knew that the villagers hated him. He knew they did. He didn't have a mother and father… he didn't think… why were his parents that cursed him with this fate?

This was their fault! He was cursed on the day he was born! The very day! His parents must have just let the Fourth Hokage take him and turn him into this… this… thing! How dare them!? Naruto hated these people. How could these people do that to their son?

He wanted to know who they were. He wanted to know why they'd do that to him. He needed too. Haku smiled. "You don't know, but you trust that they love you enough to get through it."

Naruto hesitated, he didn't want Nee-chan to hate him, he really didn't but… He did have a point… "Okay," Naruto began softly, before growing a bit more confident. "Okay, I'll do it. I'll tell her!"

"Good on you, Naruto-san," Haku said warmly, elegantly sitting up from his perch on Naruto's bed. "I believe Genie-san and Zabuza-sama were making breakfast when we departed. Would you care to see if they saved any for us?"

"Oh yeah!" Naruto pumped his fist out forgetting that he was half tangled in his blanket – causing him to go flying from his bed and fall to the ground with a solid thump. "Ouch. Yeah! I'm hungry as! I hope she made pancakes!"

"…I hope Zabuza-sama didn't eat them all," Haku muttered under his breath, but Naruto ignored him in favour of racing out the room cheerfully. He wasn't completely happy, there was still an underlying tension in his arms, and he still wasn't sure that Nee-chan wouldn't hate him but… he had hope.

"Nee-Chaaaaaaaan!" Naruto yelled, dragging out the last syllable for as long as he could as he slid into the room. "Did you save any for me?"

Her pretty green eyes blinked at him for a few moments, before her face broke out into a grin that nearly rivalled his own. "Of course, I saved some for you and Haku."

She gestured to the two massive stacks of pancakes on the table, upon which Zabuza glared at the plates, his Nee-Chan and then himself darkly. Walking around the long way so that he didn't need to encounter Zabuza, he and Haku sat down to enjoy the full vigour of Willow-chan's amazing pancakes.

"Can I have a few of yours Haku?" Zabuza asked, his eyes glinting and Naruto could see the sharp pointy smile he threw the long haired boy's way. Haku hesitated briefly, before starting to mutter; "Uh, of course, Zabu-."

"No, no. Haku is going to eat those - you've had enough dammit!"

"Spoil sport," Zabuza muttered eyeing Willow-chan nervously. "He doesn't even want that many."

"He's a growing boy, and you've had like eighteen," Willow-chan countered. Naruto watched the verbal spar from over the top of his (admittedly rapidly depleting) stack of pancakes. "Don't be a pig."

"I'm like a shark actually, or so I've been told. Common' Haku, you know you want to."

"No he doesn't," Willow insisted, "he really doesn't."

"Haku?"

Haku hesitated, looking down at his plate mournfully. Willow sighed. "Fine, I'll make more. _Merlin_."

"One day, you'll have to tell us who _Mer_-Lin is," Zabuza said with a massive grin. He'd obviously gotten what he wanted. Naruto knew the answer to that! He was like their creator, for Genie's. But Naruto didn't think he should say that. Not really.

* * *

**Naruto POV**

**Training Ground Seven**

* * *

"So, my cute little Genin. Do you know what day it is today?"

Sasuke snorted, Naruto rolled his eyes and Hinata responded with a brief; "Tuesday?"

"No! Well, _yes_, but no!" Kakashi-sensei clapped his hand together happily, a scary glint appearing in his eyes. "Today is the day, all your dreams come true!"

Hinata went red, Sasuke glared off into the distance and Naruto was left wondering. "We're going to have an annual Ramen day?"

"You idiot," Sasuke insulted, rolling his eyes. Naruto gave him a slight glare. That was one of his dreams! There deserved to be a national Ramen day, dammit! "What would those be, Sensei?"

Kakashi rubbed his hands together deviously, before rubbing his chin – obviously very deep in thought. "You know what? Never mind. I changed my mind."

"What!?" Naruto shouted, his finger pointing directly at the man. "You can't say that! What is it? Huh?! Huh!?"

"Shut up Naruto," Kakashi-sensei said plainly. "It's too early to have you shouting like that."

"I, for once, agree with the idiot," Sasuke interjected coolly. Sensei shot Sasuke an amused look. Why was their teacher such a sadist?

"As I was saying," Kakashi-sensei continued, pretending that he had never even heard Sasuke's comments. "I just decided that you weren't ready. I changed my mind."

"In a ten second span of time?" Sasuke asked dryly. Naruto nodded his head showing his support of the stuck-up black haired boy. Which was enough to shock him entirely – since when had he and the bastard actually started agreeing on things?

"Why yes Sasuke. Happens to me all the time." Sensei rocked back on the heels of his feet staring off into the bright cloudless sky. Naruto figured he was trying to decide what to do now that he'd changed his mind.

"W-well, can we change it… back?" Hinata hesitated slightly.

Kakashi-sensei stroked his chin thoughtfully, his one eye glancing between the three Genin. Naruto for one, was about to burst, Sensei needed to tell him! He had to know! "Well… I guess I can give you a chance to prove you're actually ready…"

"What is it!? What do we have to do!?" Naruto asked, bouncing on the heel of his foot. "We'll do it! Anything!"

"You should really be more careful when you claim that, Naruto," Kakashi-sensei laughed, as he pulled out a piece of paper with a long list of missions on it – at least, that's what Naruto thought the long list contained. "On this list is twenty D-Rank missions. How long would it take you to do this many missions…? Hinata?"

"A week," she replied, after a brief pause. Naruto felt himself nodding along with Hinata's assessment. Looking over at Sasuke, he didn't deny the time frame.

"Excellent. You have two days. Complete all the missions in two days, and then – maybe, I'll reconsider!" The silver haired ninja proclaimed handing over the list to Sasuke who was reading over it with big, bright, horrified eyes.

"Impossible!" Sasuke snapped, his eyes glancing up from the paper. "It's impossible."

"No, it's not. Even the word says; _Im_-possible."

Sensei was an idiot. An actual idiot. "Ah, right then. The rules are that you have to complete them all as a team, meaning all you three actually have to be there to sign the mission off at the end."

"We can't split up?" Naruto asked, trepidation leaking into his voice. He was calling off training with Bushy Brows. They'd have to pull an all-nighter. They wouldn't stop working. It wasn't possible! Why would Sensei give them a task that as so bloody impossible?

"Nope!" Sensei confirmed cheerfully, pushing his hand in his pockets. "So… This time, on Thursday… I'll be checking in to see how many of these you've managed. Have fun!" he called before disappearing into a cloud of smoke.

Naruto lunged at Sasuke, his hands snaking out in front of him to take the paper away from the black-haired boy. "Let me see it!"

"No, you'll rip it, idiot!" Sasuke snapped pushing Naruto back before he could completely grasp the paper, causing him to stumble. Naruto pushed him right back, causing him to stumble, but he didn't let go of the paper.

"No, I won't! You bastard! Give it here!" Naruto shouted, pointing his finger at Sasuke, his face turning an ugly shade of purple. He needed to see the paper if they were going to do all those missions!

"H-hey…"

"Come and get it from me… idiot!" A smirk graced Sasuke's features, daring Naruto to leap over and take that pretty piece of paper right away from Sasuke.

"Sasuke-San… Naruto-Kun…"

"Ah! You bastard!" Naruto lunged for the black haired boy, who dogged out of the way, holding the paper just enticingly out of reach. Naruto reached for the paper, before the boy pulled back so it was just out of his reach. Naruto grunted in a quiet fury.

"Please… stop…"

"You'll never get it that way. Useless," Sasuke rolled his eyes, was he enjoying himself? Bastard! Naruto lunged from the other side, accidently tripping Sasuke in the process. Naruto's grin widened when he tried to snatch the paper right out of the fallen boys' hand, only to get tripped over by his foot lashing out in a swiping arch.

"Naruto-Kun! Sasuke-Kun! Stop right now!" Hinata's voice broke through whatever haze of dislike that had begun to settle over the two boys. They both turned to her with wide eyes. "I'm so sick of this! Stop fighting please! We need to get all of those missions complete and we can only do this together. So can you just put all of this dislike behind you and for once, focus on what's at hand, and actually important!?"

"Ah, y-yeah Hinata-chan, no worries," Naruto's voice trailed off nervously, looking at the bold-once-meek girl in a new light. This Hinata was really scary! Sasuke just nodded his head slowly, both boys exchanged glances, not sure what to make of this bold version of Hinata. They slowly stood up, and Naruto completely forgot about the paper he'd been trying to snatch from the other boy.

"Great. Give me the list Sasuke. We can break it up to things that we can do quickly, things that need to be done during the day, and things we can do during the night," Hinata explained, and Sasuke handed it over with no words spoken. Man, Hinata could be scary sometimes….

"Okay, let's start with this…"

* * *

The three Genin looked at the roof which half was missing. "It says to retile the roof," Hinata explained looking up at the roof and then down to the pile of tools by the ground. "Do you know how to tile a roof?"

Naruto shook his head, but Sasuke grunted – looking away for a moment before shoving his hands into his pockets. "It's fairly easy, you just have to hold them in place, a knock a nail into it." Hinata and Naruto both looked at him strangely, but he just shrugged his shoulders, not much bothered by the strange looks the two pre-teens we're shooting him. "I've had to do to before."

"What do suggest we do, to make it fast?" Hinata asked nervously looking between the tiles and the top of the roof. They'd never done a mission like this one before, it shouldn't be too hard, right?

Sasuke looked between the two of them, considering. "Naruto should run up and down the side of the wall handing as more tiles and tools as we need. He's got the most stamina. Hinata, you place them where they need to be, and I'll nail them down."

"Good idea!" Hinata beamed, hands clapping together – happy with this course of action. "If we do it together, we won't take as long!"

Naruto nodded his head, although he wasn't happy that they were following Sasuke's plan. After a few moments into his plan though, Naruto conceded, that it was actually – a very good plan.

* * *

"This wall goes on forever!" Sasuke hissed, watching the fence that seemed to span half of Konoha. "We won't be able to do this in half an hour, Hinata."

Hinata hesitated slightly, like she was reconsidering how long this would take she huffed placing the paint-stained brush down for a moment. "No, Sensei said we had to do it together. He never said I couldn't use Kage Bunsion to help along the painting," Naruto decided, smiling at the two his grin widening.

They shared identical grins of triumph when they realised that it technically wasn't against the rules – they just had to finish it together. "Try not to spill too much paint, idiot. We don't have to time to buy more. Let alone go back and fix all the spots you're obviously going to mix."

"Hey-!"

"I'll mix the paint together so that it'll be ready when you need it Naruto-kun. Sasuke-kun can double check afterwards to do a bit of clean up, and to make sure you didn't miss any spots," Hinata decided with a small grin, relieved that she didn't have to pick the stupid brush back up again.

"I won't miss any spots, Hinata-chan!" Naruto wined, creating a whole slew of clones that could be used to finish painting the silly wall.

"Yes you will," Sasuke retorted, rolling his eyes at the blonde. "That's the only thing I can grantee."

* * *

"If we split the list up into three different parts, we can find everything faster," Sasuke explained gingerly holding up the dirty piece of paper. He folded it into three even bits before he cleanly made a rip so it separated into three. "We met back her in twenty with all the groceries, clear?"

"Course," Hinata agreed, and Naruto nodded his head distractedly looking down at the paper. Milk, eggs, yogurt… He'd be back here in ten!

"I bet I can make it back before you Sasuke!" Naruto stuck his tongue out at the boy, laughing. Sasuke rolled his eyes, but walked away a smidge bit faster. Naruto raced off the find all that he needed first! Yeah! He'd prove that he was better than Sasuke!

It was all for naught, because Hinata was the one to get back first.

* * *

"It's getting kind of dark," Naruto pointed out worriedly. "I need to tell Nee-Chan that I'm going to be out all night. Do you need to tell your dad, Hinata-Chan?"

Hinata hesitated slightly, playing with her fingers. "I doubt he'd notice I wasn't there."

Sasuke and Naruto both shared an almost concerned look about her apparent lack of care. Sasuke scowled for a moment before replying like she'd never spoken a word. "Either way, we can stop by Naruto's house _briefly_."

"Yeah, and we can eat something because I'm hungry," Naruto added, before changing his course to make a beeline towards his apartment. "We should eat if we're not gonna sleep."

"It's a good idea," Hinata agreed looking towards Sasuke for confirmation, and when they had that, they were all racing towards Naruto's apartment under the street lights. Naruto banged open the door as loud as possible, hoping that she wouldn't be doing any Genie stuff when he walked in. Which was why he made such a racket when walking in – much to the disgust of Sasuke. She wasn't. She was sitting on a comfy looking cushion, about twice the size she was.

Where did she get that? It looked comfortable! Did she magic it in? "Hello Naruto, bit late. Nice to see you again Hinata! Sasuke."

"Hello, Genie-San," Hinata greeted, whereas Sasuke just nodded.

"Hey hey, Nee-Chan. We're going to be out all night because we still have fifteen more missions to do and we only have like, a day left. So can we have something to eat, because it's going to be a long night? Am I allowed to have coffee?"

"No. No coffee," Willow said with a light smile. "But… I can gather you three something to eat. That's quite a few missions you have to get through."

"Hey hey! Thanks Nee-chan!"

* * *

**Willow POV**

**Naruto's Apartment.**

* * *

"Naruto?" Willow asked wondering what the boy was doing in her kitchen when both of his teammates were seated outside, waiting for a bit of food, and for Naruto to return so that they could continue of their rapid pursuit to do twenty missions. Willow didn't want to even know what that was about. "Kid, are you okay?"

For his part, the blonde had attached himself to her legs, his head making itself comfortable resting on her stomach. "I'm sorry," he mumbled slowly, as Willow put down the wooden spoon she'd been using to stir the mixture she was concocting.

"What for?" she asked again, absolutely stunned by the boy's upset.

"For being mean to you yesterday morning, I didn't mean to be mean. Please don't leave me, Nee-Chan!" Naruto said, his lower lip quivering – you wouldn't have expected the bright happy boy that had been requesting coffee for the last two days to be acting like this.

"I don't mind Naruto, it's okay. I'm not going anywhere. Not for a long while, at least," she added, knowing that her plans to find a way back to England hadn't changed, just pushed off to the side a bit. Maybe when Naruto was older, when he could take care of himself better. She couldn't leave him as he was. Plus, he still had two wishes left. "I'm not going to just leave you because you gave me some attitude."

Naruto ginned at her, before his smile was replaced with a sombre frown. "But… I'm a Junjuriki."

Naruto froze like he expected her to backhand him, and storm out of the room never to be seen again. "So?" Willow posed, seeing the boy's stunned expression. "Kid, I'm a …Genie. It's not like both of us are any different from anyone else. Just a little bit of extra 'umph'."

"But I'm evil, you're not!" Naruto argued flowing.

Willow snorted and rolled her eyes. "I find that hard to believe Naruto. I've met some pretty evil people in my life. I've met men who try to kill innocent babies, men who are willing to betray all their friends, resulting in their death. I've met countless people who belittle people because of the purity of their blood, Naruto, you don't even score against these people. You, Uzumaki Naruto, are such a pure, good boy. Don't you ever think otherwise?"

"I…Thank you Nee-Chan!"

She nodded her head, happy with the expression he was wearing. "Now, come on. You have two teammates sitting out there waiting for you. Plus I think you only have another six hours to finish the rest of your missions in."

"We got six left!" Naruto wailed, almost like he hadn't bee extremely sad moments ago. "That's a mission an hour!"

At least the boy's math skills were improving.

* * *

**Naruto POV**

**Training Ground Seven**

* * *

Man, he was tired! Naruto yawned loudly, which he could see was followed by Hinata rubbing her eyes for a moment. They hadn't slept in 48 hours, and it showed. Sasuke had bags a mile long underneath his eyes, and was darkly glaring out at the trees like this had all been their fault. Naruto was battling to keep his burning eyes open long enough to simply watch the black haired boy glaring at the trees.

But they'd done it. It was Thursday, exactly ten minutes before their deadline to have all twenty of those damn D-ranks finished, and they'd done it. Naruto could say that he didn't think any other genin team had managed to do so many missions in only two days. It was amazing, a miracle!

"Yo! My adorable little students!" Sensei's loud, and annoyingly cheerful voice leaked into the atmosphere like an annoying tick. One that refused to go away. Naruto groaned, he was too tired for Sensei to be so happy! "Looks like you managed to get all those missions done. I have to say – I'm quite impressed."

"I hope you die," Sasuke said icily. Though, the effect of his normal moodiness was overall ruined by the large dark bags underneath his already too-dark eyes.

"Maa, Sasuke, that wounds me," Kakashi-Sensei put his hand over his heart, with his eye curving into his signature eye-smile. "I take it you don't want to know that I changed my mind about you again?"

"Ignore him!" Naruto shouted quickly. He had been put through way too much inconvenience for Sensei to change his mind, again, because Sasuke was being a prick. "Tell us Sensei! Please! I beg you!"

"Well, if you really a_re _begging. I guess I can't refuse," Sensei sighed dramatically, clutching his heart like it was going to rapidly beat out of his chest. "My cute little genin, I'm here today telling you about an event that is going to transpire in exactly one month, on Konoha's walls."

"What is it!?"

"It is… The Chunnin Exam! And after this display, I think I might nominate you," Kakashi-sensei explained, a bright cheerful voice at the forefront of his mind. Naruto was in shock, the Chunnin Exam, already!? The blonde boy shot forward to hug his Sensei.

"Hey, wait. Don't touch my vest! I said 'might'!" Sensei said, attempting to pry his fingers off the green vest, but Naruto didn't care. Sensei thought they were good enough to become chunnin? Naruto ginned wildly, despite how tired he was. "Well, now that that's over. Who's ready for some training?"

The groan heard by team seven, was unanimous. Naruto just wanted to sleep, not train!

* * *

**The Day All the D-Rank Missions Went Missing.**

* * *

The Hokage was generally a nice man. He'd been quite stressed lately, but overall he was as fair as possible. It so happened, that one Tuesday morning, all he wanted from his day was to relax. That he did, he'd eaten a full, and lovely breakfast – he'd read some of his Icha Icha – and he had yet to be given any bad news.

It was going to be a good day. By the time midday rolled around, the Hokage was feeling content that nothing out of the ordinary was happening at all. It was such a relaxing day! That itself should have put him on edge. With the shinobi that he hired, there had to be some sort of misstep. Something should be wrong.

As the day wore on, he was slowly getting more paranoid. Where was Gai messing up half the Market in his quest thing find the best watermelon? Where was Gemna accidently burning pubs down? Where was Kakashi, attempting to break every rule he gave him? Where were the damn Chunin guards that couldn't even protect a book!?

Why was nothing bad happening? What was Naruto doing? Why wasn't there a prank of some sort brewing?! "Hokage-sama! It's an emergency!" A voice cried throwing the doors open.

There stood his secretary and three slightly annoyed looking Genin teams. Three guesses to which one was missing? The first two guesses didn't count. It was Kakashi's squad. The Hokage nodded his head gravely. Kakashi had done something, again. _Finally_! "What is it?"

"The D-Ranks, they're all missing Hokage-Sama! How will my students fan their waves of youth without it!?" Gai cried, tears falling down his face as he fell to his knees. The Genin, other than those from his team (the mini-Gai on the team looked suspiciously close to tears himself) watched him with minute horror.

"The… excuse me, _what_, are gone?"

"The D-Ranks have all been checked out for the next week. All twenty of them," his secretary explained slowly, inching away from Gai's waterworks. "They all want one, but I don't have any to give."

"That's never happened before," The Hokage mused in surprise. "I guess a lot of Ninja want D – Ranks this week. May I suggest a training week, instead, hmm?"

"You see Hokage-sama…" Kurnai, one of his most talented Jonin began slowly. "It's just that one team has taken all of them, no one else has claimed a single one."

The Hokage rubbed the bridge of his nose. "And pray tell, who this team is?"

"Hatake Kakashi's squad," the receptionist replied. "Squad Seven. He said they'd all be done by tomorrow, though."

"You can't do twenty D-Ranks that quickly!" A pink-haired girl, one of the Genin protested, looking over to the blonde girl, a Yamanta from another team. "Right?"

"Right!" The blonde agreed. "Isn't that Sasuke-Kun's team?"

The Hokage tuned them out. What the hell was Kakashi up to this time?! The Hokage sighed. What was it about Genius Shinobi? Oh, that you can't control them. That was right… What was Kakahsi going to do with twenty D-Ranks!? "It'll be taken care of. You are dismissed. Please get up Gai."

He needed to get Kakashi in here right now and force him to explain exactly what was going on. "Someone bring me Hatake Kakashi… Now!" he ordered, knowing that one of the ANBU stationed around his room would take his order and bring back the errant Jonin.

What could the Jonin have possibly needed with twenty D-ranks, anyway?

When The Jonin appeared in his office, three hours later, the only response he was given was; "It's a test in their teamwork. Hey, at least they look like their passing."


	10. Chapter 10

**_Ain't Never Had a Friend like Me_**

**Chapter 10: Of Dates, and Broken Doors**

**A/N; First, thank you for all the _amazing_ reviews. I love each and every one of them. And I'll always try to reply, but sometimes it's difficult. Still, thank you. I love each Review/Follow/Favourite that I get. It means a lot. Though, I do need to point out that the interludes back to England are very important and central to my plot. I've had so many people tell me that their unnecessary, or that they don't like them. But it's setting up another arch, where yes, there will be eventual communication between the two worlds. It's all I'll say on the matter. So please, _please_, stop PMing me that they shouldn't be included. They're _very_ important. **

**Hey hey guys, the amazing TheBlackBand actually drew Willow and posted it on Deviantart! It looks amazing and they've captured Willow perfectly! If you want to see it, this amazing piece of work, here's the link! (Remove the spaces!) (This is the first time anyone has ever drawn someone from my stories!)**

** www. deviantart art/ Ain-t- Never- Had- a- Friend- Like- me- Willow- Potter- 583486642**

* * *

**Hermione Granger POV**

**The Department of Mysteries**

* * *

The one thing that Hermione Granger prided herself on, would always be her ability to use her intelligence to get herself out of almost every situation. The thing that she hated about herself was her inability to simply let things go. It was because of this flaw, that she was here – her first day as an Unspeakable for the Ministry.

Yes, that was right. Hermione Granger was an Unspeakable. It wasn't anything like she'd thought it would be, to be honest, and she was rather ashamed of herself for coming into this job with all these preconceived notions running through her head. These people were select few wizards whose job was to basically tear through the fabric of magic itself, dissecting it, flipping it upside down, and then poking it. Just to see what would happen if they did. If she had to liken them to anything, she would be calling them muggle mad scientists.

Imagining the faceless cohorts that she was to surround herself with daily, with wide manacle grins, and wild hair that couldn't be contained, made her rather nervous though. Even if she was trying to be honest, and reminded herself that _she _actually had a pretty crazy smile and hair that failed to be constrained.

Though, having this job did have quite a few perks. Like not being stopped when she wanted to research something, or when she took interest in a certain concept, it was actually _encouraged_ for her to further peruse it. They were given no topic, there was no 'deadlines', just a group of wizards and witches with a thirst to study the inner working of magic. This of course, allowed her deep within the files in the department to finally pull out all the research on the lamp that the Minister had trapped Willow in.

They'd get her back. She wouldn't, _couldn't_, abandon her best friend – her first friend, ever. Willow was always there for her, protecting her, being the best human being she could always be. No, she wouldn't give up on her non-blood sister. The information that she sourced was enough to prove the story that Ginny and Malfoy had brought back, had some sort of validity.

The Lamp of Kolasi. The word Kolasi was Greek for, 'damnation'. Even if the Lamp was found to be somewhere from Arabia, the fact that its name was Greek, meant that she really should plan a trip to Greece soon. The lamp was officially named the Lamp of Damnation. This had caused a string of butterflies to be let forth onto her stomach, sitting at her new desk, she grasped the corners tightly wondering what sort of horrors that Willow was having to endure. Her lower lip quivered slightly before she managed to right herself. She didn't bother to look up to see if anyone was watching what she was doing. Her thoughts, focused on Willow, she'd been damned, actually _damned_.

She didn't _want_ to know what that would entitle.

All the other Unspeakables were too caught up in their new projects. She ignored the 'lost' stamped on the front page, scanning the brief document. Some words rushing out to meet her. Trapped. Bound. Unbearable pain with too much distance. Demon. Insane. Cursed. Death. The only way they had down to get released from the lamp was in _death_, the death of the one that Willow was meant to be bound to, or had they meant the death of Willow?

As she scanned further in, and things got more complicated. The Lamp was covered in Runes. Runes for servitude. They had once been used on Slaves in the last Century to force compliance. They had Runes to ensure loyalty, and many that were a trap. The thing was designed to trap something inside of it, and force them into doing someone's bidding.

Something like Willow, and others of their kind. It was a tool to trap Witches and Wizards and force them to serve Muggles. But then, how was it created? By who? The runes would suggest that it had to be a Wizard who by all rights, had mastered in Runes. It wasn't looking good for anybody at the moment. They needed to become better at Runes if they wanted to free her, without any harm to come to the one she was bound to. For a brief moment, she contemplated the idea that maybe that wasn't necessary before she caught herself, a frown on her face.

She wouldn't injure anyone. She couldn't kill someone… But what if it was for the life of her best friend? How would she be able to justify that? She couldn't, could she?

Hermione though, needed to focus on actually finding the Lamp. Something she could do very well here, did she also have the time to become a Runes Mistress? Surely she hadn't bitten off more than she could chew. She could do this. She was Hermione Granger, brightest witch of her age.

She _would_ save Willow. But, what was this? There was however, a band of runes that the document held, which caused her alarm to skyrocket. They weren't translated properly, but with her slight knowledge of Runes, she did have the ability to read some of the missing pieces, though she mightn't have it perfect. Though she would, in all due time, she would. And by Merlin, she hoped that she had it wrong.

_Slowly ITZ insanity that ICAZ demonic in nature ZZKA causes from the RDSZ whisper in their mind. The sight of TTZY. ZZYV BHV… _Demonic? And what was this sight of? Hermione Jean Granger hoped they got this translation wrong, she hoped that Willow hadn't been released from the lamp, and she hoped that whatever this was – hadn't started yet.

* * *

**Naruto POV**

**Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto watched on as the young red-haired woman continued to wear a hole in the ground. He wondered if she walked across the small expanse enough times, would it cave in due to pressure – leaving the two of them homeless. "Uh, Nee-chan…" Naruto began slowly, not really sure how to broach talking to the crazy woman. He honestly couldn't understand why she was acting so crazy. "Um… Can't you just, y'know… _not go_?"

"I have to," Willow-chan muttered in response, her fervent green eyes locking onto his confused face before looking away against, as she continued to mutter random things that he couldn't even begin to depict. "I made a promise. You should _never_ go back on a promise you've made, Naruto. Well, it wasn't a _real_ promise, but I alluded to one – which is pretty much the same thing."

"How do you allude to a promise?" Naruto asked, raising his eyebrow (a trick that he had quickly learned off Nee-chan, much too several people's ire.) It was a fun thing to do though, and it made him feel quite serious when he was doing it. "What does _allude_ even mean?"

Willow sighed, flopping over a big squishy looking chair – ("It's called a Bean Bag, Naruto!"), curling into herself. The blonde boy tilted his head to the side so he could keep the woman's face in his view. "I said if he did something for me, I might give him a date. Or, something along those lines. It means to hint at something, calling attention to something indirectly."

"Oh," Naruto said slowly, not really very sure he understood what she was saying. Why would you want indirect attention? He much rather preferred _full_ attention. "Why don't you say you ate bad Ramen and can't make it?"

"Because then I'd be breaking my promise, remember?" Willow sighed dramatically, almost like she wished she was someone else for a moment. Was Nee-chan always this dramatic? Naruto blinked. "A good rule to live by, is to never break any promises you make."

"It'll be my Nindo!" Naruto claimed after listening to Willow-chan very seriously. Willow-chan blinked for a few moments, before it occurred to him that as a Genie, she might not know what exactly a Nindo was. He grinned with the idea that it was his turn to explain something to Willow-chan! "It's gonna be my Ninja way! The way I live by for my whole life!"

"I'm glad," Willow-chan smiled gently, causing the young boy's chest to feel the slightest bit lighter. The genuine happiness and care for him was apparent in the way she spoke, and Naruto could tell, even if he couldn't believe it. No one had ever seemed to care about him before, no one. Not even the Old Man Homage seemed to care as much as she did, or Iruka, or Old Man Ramen. She even knew about what he was and she didn't flinch, didn't even bat an eyelash at him!

"Well," Naruto decided to amend, almost sheepishly - not believing that'd almost forgotten the first one he'd created. He was totally allowed to have two, right? "I figure I can have more than one, because' I also want to have 'I will become strong by protecting those precious to me'!"

The girl's lips twitched upwards into a smile, her eyes distant like she was remembering something else from her odd land. Naruto held his breath for a moment, wondering if she would tell him another story about the strange, yet exciting land that she came from. It sounded way much more interesting than Konoha's. Naruto loved his village, but hers seemed so… different! He really wanted to visit there one day and see all their flying objects! And strange foods! And Willow-chan's friend Hermione!

"Love is one of the strongest forms of magic we have," Willow said finally, a small smile gracing her face. "More than one wise person has spoken those words to me."

Naruto looked up at her with awe, even though she said they hadn't been her words, he was still enraptured by them all the same. Before anything more could be spoken between the two pseudo-siblings, the door to the apartment swung open, colliding with the opposite wall with a sickening bang. The redhead groaned, flipping her head back into the squishy bag that she liked, and closed her eyes.

"Oops."

"Zabuza-sama! You broke the wall!" A light sort of feminie voice scolded – Naruto was getting extremely used to this voice by now. Unlike Willow-chan though, he looked over at the door to see Zabuza's unconcerned face, and Haku's annoyed one.

"It was already broken," a rough voice responded, the sheepish man turning around and striding further into the room that they occupied, ignoring the doorknob that was embedded into the wall. The long haired boy, however, tried to pry the wall and door apart with the least amount of damage as possible, throwing a frustrated glare at Zabuza.

"Don't worry about it Haku," Nee-chan sighed, sounding extremely exhausted for some reason, her eyes creaking open. "I'll fix it later. It'll only take a few moments. Could you at least _try_ and not break my door when you come in here?"

"That doesn't sound very entertaining," the previously missing-nin answered briskly, throwing himself at a nearby chair, before turning to face the blonde haired boy a wild grin full of sharp pointy teeth on his face. Naruto suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable. "Ready for a fun night full of Sake and girls?"

"He's twelve, and your charge is only fifteen," Willow said calmly, slowly pushing herself up so she could actually see the other Ninja. Naruto didn't understand, that that mean that there would be no boys where they were going? Then how would they be let in, because they were certainly boys! Plus, he wasn't allowed to have Sake… "No Sake."

"You need to loosen up, the kid's a ninja," Zabuza attempted to wave Willow off, but the look she gave him could send Naruto into hiding for days. He wasn't one that was going to be on the receiving end of that look. No thank you! He was not having any Sake!

"Uh… Ya know, I don't need a babysitter…" Naruto mumbled a bit miffed that just because Nee-chan left, Zabuza had to be to take care of him. He was out training really late all the time anyway. This was really nothing different than that. Plus, he could make dinner better than Zabuza could anyway.

"No, kid. You're here to make sure _he_ doesn't do anything stupid," Willow replied, using her thumb to gesture to the all-too-comfortable ninja lounging around, who simply rolled his eyes. "I don't want to come back to a half burnt kitchen, or mangled staircases – or no door, no doorknob. Singed carpet. That and I knew he was going to find his way in here eventually."

"…I feel the need to interject how much this conversation offends me," Zabuza replied dryly, a scary look in his eye. Oh, this made more sense, he was babysitting Zabuza and Haku! "Who're you going out with, Genie? Men, they can be scared _really_ easy now a days."

"Your threats need working on," Willow retaliated, not even flinching. Naruto yawned, it would take quite a bit to scare off Brows-sensei, he was a really determined sort of person. This was going to be a long night. "Plus, be my guest. It'll get you nowhere."

Zabuza eyed her for a moment, and Willow-chan ignored him. Naruto just grinned, he so got to babysit a really strong Jonin! Ha! That was so cool. Distantly, he swore he heard Haku sigh, but when he looked over, the long haired boy was just staring at the roof mournfully.

* * *

Willow POV

Sayuri's Restaurant

* * *

The day had come, a day Willow Potter knew she would forever live to regret. The day she agreed to go on a date with Might Gai. She hadn't even been fully functioning when he'd approached her about it, she'd dismissed him agreeing before she even realised what was going on. She regretted that now, she regretted all of it. But, she wasn't one to go back on her word, or shy away from a challenge.

She could do this – if she could slay a Basilisk, she could endure a dinner date with eccentric Gai. It couldn't even be _that_ bad, she reasoned with herself, slowly approaching a building that looked like the one Naruto had described to her. The outside, looked modest, if not, a little bit on the cute side. So far, so good. Hopefully, he had better taste in fine dining than he did about what he wore. Willow shuddered thinking about the jumpsuit he favoured, and the fact that Naruto carted a similar one most days was enough to give her nightmares.

….It really didn't go well with anything. Summoning up her courage (which was hopefully enough to last through the night,) Willow hesitantly stepped towards the wooden door. The second she reached it, and pulled it open, she was greeted with the sounds of softly playing music. Slowly, her eyes managed to focus on a harp (at least she thought that was a harp) player in the corner of the room, he seemed to be very talented if the confident way his fingers strummed the strings were anything to go by. Her eyes swept to the left, smiling over at the woman who was placed near the entrance, obviously to seat the people who were walking in.

"Do you have a reservation?" she asked, a wide smile plastered on her face, but her eyes showed her disinterest. Willow could sympathise. Working in hospitality had to have been one of the worst jobs she'd encountered. She spared the woman a small smile.

"I'm meeting someone here," Willow answered, tugging on the hem of her black shirt. She felt, like she was slightly underdressed. She hadn't expected it to be anything overtly fancy, but being here, in a slightly too short black t-shirt, and similarly coloured cargo pants – she felt like she stood out like a sore thumb.

"Young blossoming flower of Konoha! Over here!" Willow's head snapped to the sound of the rather loud –and attention seeking voice the bloomed across her ears. In one of the tables in the middle, a round sort of thing, sat Might Gai in all his beaming glory.

"Uh… With him?" Willow turned back to the woman hesitantly like she wasn't sure if she wanted to go to the table, or turn and run. They exchanged surprised looks for moment, before the redhead stumbled forward to meet her date for the night. How had she managed to be dragged into this? Cautiously, she took her seat across from the man a timid smile splaying across her face. "Hello, Gai. How are you tonight?"

"Much better now that I've seen your most youthfully beautiful face! I hope this fine dining establishment is to your taste?" Gai asked, his eyes wide and eager to please her. Willow attempted not to groan as her eyes involuntary flickered over the place they were currently in. There were many couples, so many in fact – that Willow somewhat suspected that this a haunt made purposefully for couples. The sights, made her slightly uncomfortable. She hoped Gai didn't actually expect anything to come from this – wait, of course he did. He wouldn't have invited her out otherwise.

"Its fine," Willow responded, not wanting to hurt the man's feelings when he looked so earnest. "Have you looked at the menu, yet?" she tried to divert his attention to the gold a white card that was place elegantly in front of the two diners. She picked up the piece and her eyes slowly glanced through the words.

"Yes! They have the most youthful selections. I myself am thinking of have the Tempura, a very lovely dish within itself!" Gai concluded, evidently pleased with his answer. Before Willow could answer, with a name of a promising dish – she really had learned that her favourite food here, was anything that contained eggplant, something she'd never much cared for, or even _tried_ in England. After all, it wasn't a very common item to put in any westernized dish.

"Are you two ready to place your orders? Can I start with drinks?" a waiter said, appearing from somewhere behind Willow's line of vision. He had a friendly smile on his face, but his eyes betrayed how cautious he was feeling. An emotion, she was beginning to feel was easily relatable to being in Gai's presence.

"Aojiru," Gai responded, sounding extremely pleased that they served the drink. Willow looked down at the paper nervously. She hadn't much experimented with the beverages that seemed traditional with this land, most of the time, she felt wary enough with the food. Her eye's danced through the page before recognising a word that she found familiar. "Sake, please."

"Alright. Are you ready to order your food? Or do you need more time."

"I will have the youthful Tempura! What will you have, dear Genie-chan?" Gai asked, his voice eager and his expression even more exuberant. Willow could have rolled her eyes at the man, but she didn't. Honestly, she might not have been ready, which she wasn't, but her eyes picked up the first thing with the word 'eggplant' in its name.

"I'll have the boiled saury, miso soup and eggplant," Willow responded, quite pleased with being able to order at the drop of a hat. Dear Merlin, she hoped it was alright. She _was_ very hungry. The waiter hurried off, obviously, to relay their order.

"You know, Genie-chan? That is my eternal rival's favourite dish to eat! Although, he tends to have extra salt," Gai said, like this was the most interesting thing in the world. Eternal rival? What was that again? He had to have mentioned that somewhere… Willow scrunched her face up, but she couldn't seem to recall what that was, so she just smiled and hoped that was good enough.

"Uh um," he floundered when she didn't say a word to him. "Do you enjoy tasting the fine texture of the wonderful eggplant?"

That was the strangest way of asking if she liked eggplant. No one had ever asked her if she liked a certain food like this, ever. What does the texture _taste _like? She knew what it felt like… "I guess?"

It was the start of a long, long night. "Youthful Genie-chan, have I yet to tell you about my daring adventure into the depths of the heart of Kiri? It is an adventurous tale where I managed to defeat six enemies with a broken arm! Of course, it was due to my unyouthful misguidance which lead to such a fatality…"

Willow blinked, bitting her lower lip unconsciously. What was he talking about? She got that he went on a mission with a broken arm? Why wasn't it youthful? It was perfectly fine with her though, that the older man didn't stop speaking for a period of time, not actually allowed her the opportunity to say anything. He was too caught up in his story, which was fine, because she had no idea what she would need to say. Smiling might not be appropriate in this kind of situation.

"Then I swung around the corner only to encounter my terrified client who was absolutely beaming with happiness to see my good looking features-."

Huh? Gai paused for a moment that that their server profoundly for stopping by to deliver their 'wonderful, youthful drinks full of vigour.' Willow smiled at the man weakly, before glancing down at the liquid that was now housed in the cup; for a moment, she wondered if she would be allowed to keep the bottle with her on the table. Surely this stuff wasn't _too_ strong. It couldn't be worse than Firewhisky.

She took a sip, half a mind still on Gai's story, though now he was regaling about another adventure of his where he was protecting a Princess. It didn't taste too bad, smooth, with only a light tingle on the back of her throat. "The young Hime was so grateful for my _manly_ interference," she heard Gai speak, lowering his voice – which undoubtedly caught her wondering attention. "That she proclaimed me the hero of the country and held a youthful festival in my honour!"

He paused, obviously waiting for her to say something. But what? Willow drank more of her Sake before responding. Why did he use the word youthful at least twice in every sentence? "That sounds… exciting," she finished lamely, even if he didn't seem to notice because he was off on another mission he took, this one had been a year previously.

Willow used this as an opportunity to finish her drink, wondering vaguely if she caught someone's attention they'd refill it. This stuff didn't exactly feel too strong. Placing the drink back down, she tried to remind herself that she was meant to be listening to Gai's newest story (even if she had no idea what he was talking about any more).

This was for Naruto, she reminded herself. Though with the way Gai was acting, she was strongly reminded of the time she agreed to go out with Cormac McLaggan and he spent the entire date regaling her with Quidditch games he'd played. Despite the fact that _she_ was Captain, had been on the team for four years longer than he had and certainly knew everything he was telling her and more. "My most cool and hip rival though managed to snag a – oh look, thank you most youthful man. For you have bring forth our nourishment, and we may begin to feed our bodies and recharge our souls!"

The man who passed the food out, gave her an uncertain look, as if she'd be able to tell him exactly what he had said. "Can you bring me more Sake? Leave the bottle this time," she added on the end like an afterthought. He nodded his head before scurrying away, leaving her to look down at her food thoughtfully.

"Let us begin this feast!" Gai cheered a few octaves too loudly, because the couple at the table over from theirs looked over at him, confusion written on their faces. Willow gave him a small, extremely polite smile, before turning her attention onto her plate. This, she resolved, couldn't be that difficult.

"Though, back to my endearing tale of heroics! Where was I? Oh yes, my hip rival had just managed to-."

Maybe she wouldn't. After a few hours of this torture, things only got progressively worse. That, and she'd somehow managed to order another bottle of this Sake stuff, not quite comprehending that drinking wasn't a good idea. She was only trying to drown her sorrows. Now though, she couldn't concentrate, she was confused.

What was that couple over there doing!? Were they? But it's a public, high end sort of place, at least, she thought it was one of those. Willow turned bright pink as her imagination started to runoff with her. Oh, that's kind of embarrassing… They weren't… maybe she shouldn't read Icha Icha anymore. Then again, she only had one unread book left! Did she need to read it? Yes, yes she really did. "…Genie-Chan? Genie-Chan?"

"Huh, what, who, now?" Willow blinked her wide green eyes at the man, owlishly. Had he been talking to her? Was this one of the rare moments he expected a response? Would her saying 'that's amazing' cut it? Course it would! He simply smiled. "That's amazing!"

"Ah, then you do want one of these most youthfully offered deserts!"

"Uh," Willow mumbled thinking hard, whilst looking down at the chocolate explosions that would-be her desert. "Naruto! Yes! He needs to put to sleep, with ah, ah, story and stuff! I do need to go do that! He'd be so sad if I didn't. So _so_ sad."

She was absently certain that her sentence made perfect sense as she stood up, and stumbled out of the harsh grasp of her chair. How dare that devil contraption keep such a hold on her!? Willow pushed the chair away from her in contempt. "I'll walk you home Genie-chan!"

"No! It's okay! I just need – to take, the taking of shortcuts!" she claimed boldly before bolting from the overly warm café. It was so stuffy in that place that the brush of extremely cold air hit her body like a bucket of water. Success! Freedom!

Willow frowned, she was cold. It was so cold! But she did need to go home – and be warm and sleep. Yes. She needed to be warm and sleep. She began to stumble forward in a direction that she was certain lead to Naruto's apartment. His apartment was so small. Tiny even, but it was warm. So warm! She needed to be really fast though, because she didn't want Gai to catch up to her. Then she wouldn't have her freedom, no way!

She didn't want to know about the seventy sixth match that he'd won against his hip rival, thank you very much! Looking around in confusion she stumbled down another pathway, where was she? Was she… was she lost? Should she just apparate back to Naruto's apartment? Yes. Yes, that would be a decent idea.

She could do that! No… no she couldn't she realised belatedly, she left her wand at home. She hadn't wanted to be tempted to magic herself out of her situation. Could she wandlessly magic herself back to Naruto's apartment?

Of course she could! That sounded like a grand idea! But… how would she do it?! Like she normally would, without a wand. Heh, she didn't need a wand. Or she could go down that way, she mused, it kinda looked like that ally near Naruto's apartment.

"You don't want to go down there," a voice said, with a warm hand – gloved hand! Placed itself on her upper arm, dragging her away from the – the shortcut! To Naruto's apartment. Willow frowned, turning to the person who dared stop her from going back to her home. Hatake Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her. "Do you _not_ notice that group standing by the entrance of that ally? What do you think they'd do if a pretty girl like you walked past them?"

"M'll be okay," Willow nodded robustly, realising he was telling off for something, not that she knew what that was. He'd be a good teacher, he was making her feel guilty. Wasn't he Naruto's teacher? Did he make Naruto feel guilty too? "Tis a shortcut! To the tiny apartment of _doom_!"

"Are you drunk?" Kakashi asked incredulously, shoving his hands into his pockets. He sounded tired, why was he tired. He should go to sleep. Willow's hands, which were in the middle of making the 'explosion' gesture froze, and she tried not to look guilty.

"No," Willow puffed her lower lip out, staring at him forlornly. She wasn't… How did he know? Could he read her mind!? He could read minds! Was he like Snape and Dumbledore!?

"I can't read your mind. I can smell the alcohol on your breath. Let's get you home," Kakashi rolled his eye. Why did he only have one? What happened to his other one? He pulled her in the opposite direction of the shortcut and began marching her down the lane. Helplessly, she looked down the dark alley she wanted to go down.

"Tis a shortcut! Mate! Seriously!" she jabbed back at the ally he so careless torn her from, did he not realise that it was quicker? "Do ya even know what a – a shortcuto, is?"

"A death sentence," he replied cheerfully, not once letting go of her wrist. Ow. His grip was really tight. Willow huffed and glared at the boorish man. Why was he _dragging _her away from the shortcut?! It wasn't gonna kill her!

"Why'dya only have one eye? Are you a pirate?" Willow asked, finally pulling herself up to the same pace as the man dragging her. Inside, she knew that something she was saying was off – but she couldn't really put her finger on it. Bah, she was speaking fine!

Kakashi stared at her for a few moments before dryly saying; "I'm a ninja. What are you?"

"I'm a Willow," she answered sagely, nodding her head.

"_What_?"

"Tis my name! Ya didn't think my name was actually _Genie_? Ew! That's a horrible name," Willow snorted than doubled over with laughter. He actually did! After a few brief moments of laughter she suddenly felt extremely sick, and she needed to stop moving. Willow swayed on the spot. "Genie is a nickname. Naruto come up with it, cause – cause he thinks I grant wishes and stuff. I'll let you know a secret…" she began to whisper. "I only do what he asks cause I think he's _adorable_!"

"Certainly a good reason to do things for him," Kakashi hummed, sounding kind of disinterested. Willow stumbled over a piece of dirt, only to get held up by the… gloved hand! Yes! Gloved hands rule!

"Ahh, that Sakie stuff is stronger than it tastes! All smooth and bam! It's evil! It's tripping me over!" Willow grumbled glaring at the floor, which in turn, caused her to stumble and actually fall over again. Hatake sighed, not bothering to catch her again. He was _mean_.

"It certainly _is_ evil," the silver haired man agreed slowly, helping to ease her down to the ground. "If you're going to throw up, please, not on my vest."

The red head nodded slowly, what did he say? Vest? "On the vest. Okay. Ya know you'd so be a Ravenclaw cause' you're all smart and always reading books!"

"…Thank you?"

"Twas a Gryffindor myself, but I'm a Willow – so it makes sense."

"… Of course it does. What were you doing before this?" The silver haired man asked, offering his arm to help her stand up again. Willow thought hard on the answer to that question.

"I was on a date with Gai. It was horrible! He kept talking about POW, POW! Missions! POW! Success and more kea POW!" she ended up using her hands to accent the explosions she was talking about, almost falling over again. Kakashi grabbed her arm again to steady her.

"…I see. So you decided it was a good idea to down a bottle of Sake?"

She bobbed her head up and down again. "Hermione always did say I tended to do silly things before I acted. No – wait, that's not it! Silly things before I ate? Huh!"

"Who's Hermione?" Kakahsi asked instead of correcting her saying. How annoying! He should be helping her out here! Wasn't he the teacher!?

"She's my best friend forever, but I'll never see her again. I can't," she whispered frowning at Kakashi who flinched. Why did he do that? Willow frowned and moved her hands to grasp his cheeks, he froze looking at her with a wide eye.

"Stop fli-flinching at everything! Y-you won't get anywhere! It – it's gonna all be fine, uh, yeah!" she told him gravely, though she felt like she was acting like Naruto. No, she was born first, Naruto was acting like her! Yeah!

"…Right. Now then Genie-San-."

"It's Willow! We've been through dis!" Willow snapped dropping her hands, much to the apparent relief of the ninja. "Wi-ll-ow. Not Wiloo. Not Willooow. Wi-ll-ow!"

"Sorry, Willow-san, let's get you home and sleeping. You'll be much better tomorrow."

"What's wrong with me now?"

"You're being much too nice," he answered the drunk question with much too much ease. He took a few steps back, obviously because he didn't want her touching him again, and she could see him frowning. Why was he frowning? Frowning was way too bad! Terrible even!

Bah! Kakashi was scared of people touching him? Tch!

* * *

Naruto POV

Training Ground Seven

* * *

Naruto just wanted to go to sleep, staying up all night to deal with a drunk genie wasn't his idea of a fun night. Although it was nice to take care of her for a change, instead of the other way around. He swore he said she was going to dinner with Brows-sensei, but Kakashi-sensei had turned up dragging a really drunk Nee-chan behind him. That confusion didn't even begin to start with why they were here.

"Hello my wayward students!"

Naruto heard Sasuke groan and he couldn't help but share his sentiments. Sensei in a good mood was not beneficial for anyone on the team. Good Mood Kakashi was responsible for horrid training exercises, and mad dashes to get crazy amount of missions done. "So," Kakashi responded when none of the Genin did. Naruto looked up at the man who had clasped his hands together. "What do we want, the good news, the bad news or the amusing news?"

"The bad news," Hinata responded, nodding her head. "That way, it can't get worse."

"Fair point, bad news: We're not _allowed_ to do a D Rank for another month."

"That's the good news," Naruto replied a wide grin gracing his whiskered cheeks. Thank the Kami! No more boring D Rank missions!

Kakashi's eye smile was rather forbidding after that, and it was sending shivers down his spine. "Which brings us to the amusing news, where we have to have a purely training month. And the bad news; well, bad for you three at least. Because I want to see how you three will fare in the wild for a week. Creating camps, gathering food – fighting off potentially dangerous, and extremely poisonous animals."

"You don't mean…" Hinata trailed off horrified. What didn't he mean? What didn't he mean!?

"The forest of Death!"

Sadist. The name of this place was even traumatising. "What's the forest of death?" Naruto asked frowning, feeling a chill going down his spine again. He so hadn't had enough sleep to actually deal with this today. "Actually, I can't. Nee-chan was really sick last night and she needs someone to take care of her…"

"I can help!" Hinata interjected, a sweet smile on her face.

"…me too," Sasuke mumbled so lowly that they could hardly hear the proclamation.

"Am I hearing you three properly? Trying to get out of training? Shame on you," he shook his head slowly, like he was in mourning over the team he wanted to have. Let him too, Naruto thought nervously, he shuddered to think of what they'd all have to be like to get Kakashi to approve of them. "What's not fun about dangerous animals that want to kill you, the possibly of dehydration, or starvation?"

"All of it," Sasuke grumbled, his dark eyes looking earnestly at the teacher. Naruto looked at his Sensei pleading. This wasn't going to be very fun, he knew it! Dehydration? Starvation? Why was he stuck with the crazy teacher? Well, actually, it wasn't like Brows-sensei was much better on the crazy scale. He was sure Bushy-Brows, Neji-teme and Buns-chan didn't have to do things like this…

"Ah well, too bad. I'm sure Genie-san can take care of herself. Now, I'll come and get you in a week… try not to die!"

With no by-the-by, he promptly opened one of the dark wired gates around the training ground and pushed them in before he promptly closed the gates with a cheerful wave. Naruto looked around the dark, aged trees and grassy landscapes and his head fell. This was going to be one very, very long day. Or a weeks' worth of days. "So… What's the plan?" Naruto asked half-heartedly. "Hide in a tree for a week?"

"…It's not a bad plan," Sasuke replied, his dark eyes staring into the tree lines. "He said to survive. Not do anything else. We just need to make camp in a tree that's near water. Does anyone know how to find a river?"

Naruto shook his head, looking over at Hinata, maybe she would know something? "I can," Hinata responded with a grin. This would be easy, if not an uncomfortable next few days. Dear Kami, he hoped he didn't get eaten by any wild animal.

* * *

Willow POV

Naruto's Apartment

* * *

There was one thing that Willow Potter hated more than anything else, and it was people who knocked on her door when she had a raging headache. The only thing that could be said to be more annoying, would have to be people who didn't stop knocking after no one answered. The only thing even worse than that, was self-entitled silver haired ninja opening the door and letting themselves in.

"I swore I locked that door," Willow grumbled her face buried into the couch cushion that she'd created only moments prior.

"I'm a ninja, Genie-san… Or should I say, Willow-san?"

Willow sat bolt upright at hearing her name, pillow and outrageous headache from her headache long forgotten. Her eyes slid over to the silver haired ninja. "Where did you hear that name?"

"You told me to call you 'Willow', not 'Wiloo' not 'Genie', but Willow, last night – when you'd somehow managed to down an entire bottle of Sake without passing out. You kind of act like Naruto when your drunk, you realise?" he mentioned blandly, strewing himself over the couch, almost like he expected to take a nap right there. His shoulders slumped, and he closed his one good eye.

"Thank you, I'm going to take that as a compliment," Willow replied, her back still stiff, and wondering if he just came by to annoy her raging headache or grill her on her actual name. Willow didn't even remember seeing Kakashi last night, hadn't she been with Gai? How had she left that, then? "Shouldn't you be teaching Naruto, and those other miscreants you call students?"

"No, I locked them in a deadly forest full of carnivorous animals, poisonous plants and deadly trees," he said flippantly. Willow shot him a wide eyed look, he couldn't be serious could he? Watching the man though, he was totally unconcerned with what he just said, and hell, was he smiling? "You worry too much, I left a clone with them."

"You left a what…? You left three thirteen year olds in a dangerous forest with a clone!?" She winced at the loudness of her own voice. Merlin, she needed to quiet herself down a little bit. Ah, the wonders of headaches.

"It's not as bad as you're making it sound. Did you want to learn about seals, or what?" Kakashi rolled his eye at her, and Willow just responded with a groan, throwing her head back to meet the squishy softness of her beanbag. What had she done to deserve this? Willow sighed. Why was he choosing to teach her now anyway? For the past week, she hadn't heard much of anything from the eccentric man.

"What do you have to teach me then?" she decided on, not quite letting go of the fact that he'd locked her little brother in a forest full of deadly animals – she fully remembered her limited time in the Forbidden Forrest, thank you very much. She'd kill him for it later, first, she had something else to focus on. Seals. He way out of the silly lamp, and her way back home. This, she resolved, was worth putting her anger aside for a few moments. "It better be good enough to curve my need to kill you for needlessly endangering my little brother."

Really, he didn't seem all that concerned by it. Then again, she remembered what happened last time he didn't seem all too concerned about him. That C Rank mission… If Naruto came back with a single scratch… She'd give him bloody antlers.

"Maa, you're much too violent, Willow-chan, I think you need some sake."

Crash! Bang! "Did someone say sake!?" Willow sighed. Bloody hell. Flickering her eyes over the top of her beanbag, she was graced with the sight of her doorknob safely stashed away in the wall, and the tall, and slightly imposing missing-nin standing in the doorway with a massive grin.

"Have you taken to listening at the door?" Willow asked blandly, rolling her eyes. Wondering just who she'd managed to piss off last night. If her giving her name away last night, then she didn't want to know what else she'd say under the influence of alcohol. "Don't you have better things to do with your time then _stalk _me?"

"Staking is such a strong phrase," Zabuza grinned, stepping forward, ripping the door out of the wall, closing it softer than she thought he should be able to. "I just wanted to know what you two were talking about. I gotta say, you two are so boring. Where is all the passion? The brats not home and you talk about seals?"

"A-ah…"

Huh? Was Kakashi blushing? He was just like Ron in that way, his ears were always the first part of his body to turn red when embarrassed too. She felt a wave of sadness at the through of her red-haired friend. "What did you expect to happen? Honestly," Willow queried, not giving him the satisfaction of him knowing that she was slightly uncomfortable. Honestly, what he was implying, was the _last_ thing she needed right now.

She was fine with just having Naruto to worry over, and care about. She didn't need to form any friendships, or have any relationships, at all. Everything she was doing here, not related to her learning about a way to make her way home, was for _Naruto_. Her going on a date with Gai, was for Naruto and his training. Her time spent with Kakashi was for Naruto, and to learn how to dissect the lamp. Having Zabuza around was a mixture of him refusing to leave, and so Naruto would have an adult around when she left.

"I expected _someone_ to be on the coffee table, that's what," Zabuza grinned, picking up one of the chairs that sat around the table, and dragged it over to her newly created 'living area'. It was meant to be like a living room, which she was shocked to find out wasn't normal to have in an apartment, but it was tiny, with a tiny little coffee table, a beanbag and a two-seater couch. Everything, she'd transfigured from everyday objects that Naruto wasn't using. The fact that the table still looked like it was made from empty Ramen cups glued together meant nothing.

She thought it had charm. Merlin, though, why wasn't the television something really common here? Naruto hadn't even known what a television _was_. "You two obviously have _no_ idea how this is meant to work."

"It would work better if you weren't here," Willow said giving him a pointed look. Zabuza blinked, offered her a sort of feral grin, and started to laugh loudly, slapping his knee in the process. Kakashi said nothing, but he did twitch at the sound of Zabuza's hand hitting his knee.

"No, no, you mentioned drinking Sake. So here I am."

"No sake, and _no_ _trysts_ here. Only sealing theory," Willow said evenly, wondering why Hatake wasn't making the usual arse of himself by interjecting something decidedly not funny. "Very boring, very basic sealing theory. In fact, I'm going to be taking notes."

"I guess I can learn really basic sealing theory too," Zabuza mused slowly, a wicked look dancing in the depths of his eyes. No, that was the last thing she needed. They argued way too much for her to do anything worthwhile, that and she still kind of wanted to threaten to kill Kakashi if Naruto came back from this 'training' injured. Zabuza would laugh at her efforts, where Kakashi would be suitably terrified.

"Shouldn't you be training or something? Where's Haku?"

"No, and he's doing boring things. Like _cleaning_," Zabuza grimaced as the word left his mouth, like it was the most traumatising thing he'd ever said in his life.

Willow sighed, and that of course, was when that headache she'd been so easily ignoring before, came back with a vengeance. She slouched back into her beanbag, eyes sliding closed, wondering why she had to do this. Willow Potter, Mistress of Death, the Girl Who Lived – and she was sitting in a tiny apartment, trying to get rid of an overly attached ninja. "Whatever, I don't care; Kakashi, start teaching before I'm tempted to castrate you for locking Naruto in a deadly forest."

"Ah, right… Well, let's start with the basic-."

"-Wait, wait. You can't tell me that that isn't flirting? Come on!" Zabuza cut the silver haired man off much to the red-heads annoyance.

"How the hell is _that flirting?_ Shut up, Zabuza! Seriously," Willow shock her head, rolling her eyes. Bloody Merlin. "Continue, Kakashi – and for the love of Merlin, ignore him."

"Oh, that _Mer_lin again."

"-principle of Sealing. And that is to look at it like it's a language," Kakashi continued, eyes glazing over Zabuza like he wasn't there. Much to her relief, and Zabuza's ire. "All the constellations should _mean _something. Like if you wanted to store something in a seal, and you tried to read it; it would literally say 'prison', or something similar. Depending on what you're sealing into what."

"This is boring," Zabuza moaned, but he went ignored in favour of the conversation.

"So, if I wanted to put a pen into a piece of paper would I write something like trap, right?"

Kakashi shrugged his shoulders. "If you didn't want to get it back out again, you would. More often than not, it's simply 'conceal'. But you're a bit away from actually designing seals, their rather complicated and require a good control over your chakra, which you don't have. Having said that, being able to recognise what seals are doing is the first part to learning them. Do you have any paper and a pen, I'm going to need to actually show you the seal for you to learn it."

She didn't have chakra, but that didn't mean that she couldn't use her magic in its place. Of course, neither of the two ninja present here could be here when she was trying that out of course.

* * *

Naruto POV

Forest of Death

* * *

"No, no, no! What the hell is that?!" Naruto screamed, falling off the branh that he was perched on. Moments previously, he had been taking in the wonderful view, and thinking about how much Nee-chan would enjoy seeing this, and then that thing popped up! "Sasuke, Hinata – heeeelp!"

Naruto quickly jumped down from the tree, and tried to scurry himself off to safety. Though falling a hundred or so feat downwards, wasn't really the best thing to get a running start from. His bright eyes, and mostly straight nose managed to make their way into the base of a rather tall, knurled tree moments after he jumped. "N-Naruto-kun, what is it?" Hinata's worried face poked down from the tree she'd been hanging out it.

Naruto pointed back at his tree dramatically, arm shaking with the nerve. "It's a kami-damned snake the size of Konoha!" Naruto wailed, his eyes managing to catch a glimpse of the shiny scales from where he was. "They can climb trees Hinata-chan! They're not safe!"

Hinata descended from her tree, quiet a touch more gracefully than Naruto had he didn't even run face first into a tree. "A-ah, you're right, Naruto-kun. L-let's go get Sasuke-kun and find another spot…"

"Maybe a cave?" Naruto asked, though his tone was still panicked, his muscles were locked and he was suspiciously agitated by all the trees around him. Rather quickly, he pulled a kunai out of his back pocket and launched it at a tree to his left.

"N-naruto-kun!"

"What the hell are you throwing things at now?" Sasuke groaned, dropping himself down from yet another tree. "Don't attract any of the wildlife to come and kill us, will you?"

Naruto glared at the black haired boy. "I swear I saw someone! This place is creeping me out! And there's a snake in my tree, a _snake_ Bastard!"

Not a few feet away, a clone sat with wide eyes trying to come to terms with the fact that he had almost accidently been 'killed' by the blonde kid. Really, they should invest in training that sensory ability that he seemed to possess. Eh, the man would be able to make that decision after he was dispelled. Watching the students plan to make a new hideout though, really was more of a pressing concern for him. He hoped they didn't go with the cave, it's where the bears hid.


	11. Chapter 11

**Ain't Never Had a Friend Like Me**

**Chapter 11: Exams, Seals and Mayhem**

* * *

35 reviews for the last chapter? _And growing? _ With a total of 1,675 Favourites? 2,262 Alerts? So far. This is so amazing. This is so overwhelming, and I love you guys so much. I can't believe the amount of traffic on this story. Thank you all _so_ much.

A/N – Alright, so about the Gai-date, honestly, I feel like it was completely in character for him. It wasn't like I think he'd be a _bad_ date, more like it is in character for him to try really hard to impress Willow. To him, he could always impress others with his accomplishments. Willow on the other hand, is used to being famous and other people fawning over themselves in a vain attempt to impress her. Leaving her with no apparition for anyone who she sees is trying to talk themselves up.

Gai and Willow's friendship will get better as they understand each other more. Thank you.

* * *

**Hermione POV**

**London **

* * *

Hermione Granger unfolded her newspaper for the thirteenth time, a nervous tick that was just beginning to develop. The words 'BRITIAN'S SERIAL KILLER: AT LARGE' flashing before her eyes, a picture of Zackary Smith – a Hufflepuff if she recalled correctly, frowning up at her from the Daily Prophet.

This was something, perhaps, a bit bigger than the missing Willow. "Don't know how they can call this person a serial killer," she said, her voice sounding oddly tight, but she couldn't remove her sight from the picture in front of her. "They have patterns. I don't see this one. Do you think it's…?"

"Another Dark Lord?" Draco snorted, sitting awkwardly on her couch, alternating between glaring at Ron and eyeing the newspaper in her hands with speculation. "Hardly. There _is_ a connection. He's only killed Pure Bloods."

"I just feel like there's more to it than that," Hermione insisted, refolding the paper and throwing it at the centre of the table. The paper sliding a few more inches, nearly falling off the small thing. It was the only way to get Smith's sneering face out of her mind.

"You think it has to do with Potter?" Draco guessed, only to have the only red headed male scoff at him loudly.

"You think Willow's doing this? You said yourself that she could only be released by someone pure of heart," Ron scoffed, his anger already rising. Hermione rolled her eyes, she couldn't understand what it was about Malfoy that got Ron so worked up. Yes, he was a bit of a prick when they were younger, but now, now he was helping. "People who are pure of heart don't just go offing every bloody pure blood around."

"Maybe it's a _muggleborn _Dark Lord, who wants to overturn all the pure blood supremacy?" Ginny chimed in, and Ron threw her an exasperated look.

"That's stupid Ginny."

"No, it sounds plausible," Hermione intervened on the younger Weasley's behalf. "Remember what I said last week, Ron? I don't think that Willow's even in this dimension anymore."

There was silence, and Draco was the only one brave enough to break it, though he did sound rather hesitant. She had broached this idea with Ron the past week, he hadn't sounded too enthused about it. But, it was still one of the only things that made sense. Why they couldn't track her – it was because she wasn't there. "You do realise that any time exposed to another dimension can kill you, right?"

"Yes," Hermione responded grimly, ignoring the looks of panic fly over the Weasley's faces. "Though, I do think that Willow is somehow connected with this. I think, that whoever is doing it, is doing it in her name. All it would take would be for her to publicly denounce it."

"Granger," Draco said slowly. "That doesn't make any sense. Nothing has indicated that they're doing it for Potter."

"She's the Slayer of the greatest Muggle Hater out there," she shrugged her shoulders. "Who else could it be for?"

"One more problem," this time it was Ginny to intervene. "We don't actually know where Willow is – just that she's tied to a lamp. She can't publicly denounce _anything_."

Hermione grimaced, a humorous light entering her eye. "Actually," Hermione said, holding up a dainty little brush that was covered in bright red hair, a colour that couldn't be mistaken. "She can. Also, a public announcement might be just what we need to terrify the Minister into thinking whatever plan he has doesn't work."

"How _old _is that?" Malfoy asked hesitantly. "Don't tell me you broke into Potter's house to get that."

"I didn't break into it," Hermione said slowly. "She left it to me."

* * *

**Willow POV**

**Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

There was a thing that Willow was beginning to get used to, the strange nature of this universe. The whole idea of chakra confused her, even though she somewhat understood its applications, she wasn't very sure she understood how it worked. She was absolutely sure that Hermione would be entranced with the ideas of it, but when it came down to it, learning about the concept from a source that actually knew what he was talking about, and not just studying dry pages of books, she was left more confused.

"The thing about Sealing, is that you're either good at it, or you're not," Kakashi was saying, his voice was distracted but his gaze was still focused. "It's a thing that it is personalized, and there's no rigid way of it working. You have your basic Seals, which I've shown you, but you add on these with your own intent. Being halfway decent with Sealing is all about natural talent; it grows with the creativity that you have in your mind, to make connections and simply understand it on an instinctual level."

"I take it you're not very good with them then, Copycat?" Zabuza interpreted with a snicker, his jesting smile wide on his face, and Willow's eyebrow twitched lightly. Honestly, she didn't understand why the man's continued presence was necessary. And what was with the strange nickname that Zabuza imposed on Kakashi, anyway? Copycat?

"Not really," he allowed slowly, shrugging his shoulders like this didn't bother him in the slightest. "I have my knowledge because I've been taught by three different Seal Masters before I was twelve. I didn't particularly take to it very well."

"So, you pretty much can't do it if you have no natural talent for it?" Willow asked, wondering what he meant by personalizing a Seal. Honestly, the way he explained things mostly made sense, but, she had always been one to learn by actually doing. She was hesitating though, because he'd warned her over six times about creating Seals without supervision.

She assumed he was referring to Naruto though, and not her. The one with no way the control her chakra, that she didn't even actually have, so really, he shouldn't worry. "Essentially," Kakashi nodded his head, unperturbed. "You need to be able to make choices about things like line thickness, and length, and things like that come based on personal perception on what could work."

"Oh come on," Zabuza began to complain, once again rolling his eyes, voice loud and demanding. "You can't say things like thickne-."

Without any sort of hesitation, Willow leaned over and rather rudely stuffed her spare roll of paper right into his mouth with a slightly harsh glare. "Don't say it."

Zabuza gagged before removing the wad of paper out of his mouth, he glared back at her, coughing along the way. "You're no fun, Genie-chan. You can't expect me not to comment when you're talking about _length _and _thickness." _

"You don't need to be here," she pointed out, not bothering to hide the annoyance in her voice, before turning back to Kakashi and his red ears. He got so embarrassed so easily, and honestly, she thought it just encouraged Zabuza and his comments so much more. "Back to the point, how does that work with the Seals like the storage one; which you've already shown me with its set design?"

"The level in which it works varies for each person, and most tend to personalize the Seal to make it more powerful when they themselves use it, which may not work if anyone else uses the same Seal," Kakashi explained, twisting his hands in his lap, and his eye firmly placed on a spot just above her head. He was feeling awkward again, she huffed in annoyance, and he wasn't nearly as sharing when he was feeling embarrassed.

"I bet you've had your fair share of _that_ particular problem, eh, Copycat?"

"Indeed," Kakashi responded blandly, and the comment, she realised, completely intrigued her.

"You have to explain what you mean by that now," Willow complained, back straight, wondering if Naruto knew the answer this.

"Not important, really."

"Aw, come on Copycat, you finally have a chance to impress the pretty lady with your strengths!"

Willow glared at the ex-missing Nin, deciding that she didn't care anymore. She would talk to Naruto about it when he got back from that stupid training exercise the silver haired Ninja had him on. Wait, did it have anything to do with what Zabuza called him? Copycat, wasn't it?

Stifling a yawn, Willow stretched her arms, sparing a moment's glare at Zabuza. "Send Haku over next time, I think I prefer his presence."

* * *

**Naruto POV**

**The Forest of Death**

* * *

There were three things that Naruto was very quickly beginning to learn about his team. One, having Hinata as a teammate was the best, because she could always find the best spots, filled with water and tree cover. He had a better understand of the cool eyes she had now, and was glad that he would always have Hinata-chan on his side, other than the other way around.

The next thing he had learned in the last week, was that Sasuke was good to have his back. The black-haired boy had more than once, stopped a few scary animals from killing him, on more than one occasion. He was staring to see the boy as less of a Bastard, and more of just a socially stunted arsehole, but he would help him with deadly animals trying to kill him.

The last thing was, that Naruto was really starting to appreciate his team. He certainly did have a good one, and he felt like they were actually starting to be… friends. Such a strange thing to come from several near-death experiences, but Naruto was starting to feel warmth with his teammates, and he was… happy. Certainly happy with having two friends, two real friends his own age.

Well, he amended, that and Kakashi-sensei was a vindictive teacher that should never be allowed to be in charge of their training exercises. He'd almost been eaten four times. "Naruto-kun… we need to move again, today is the last day," Hinata-chan said, smiling over at him, and Naruto returned the timid looking smile with a wide one of his own.

Though, the forest had also been good to Hinata, she wasn't stuttering as much, and Naruto was glad. Cause' he could totally understand what she was saying to him now. "We should wait by the gate for Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke interjected, calmly from his position high in the tree. His voice carried down, so even though they couldn't see him, they certainly could hear him. "There's less chances of Naruto getting eaten by something by the gates as well."

"Hey, you bastard!" Naruto yelled, shaking his fist in the air, even though he knew the other boy couldn't see him. "It was only three times! And remember the wild pig thing that tried to eat you, huh? Huh!?" 

Hinata's quite laughter rang past his words like a pretty symphony, counteracting his rather baleful yells. The other boy's head ducked down from the tree, so that onyx eyes could glare at him with the fire that only the Uchiha could manage. His lips pulled back, so the boy was left baring his teeth at the blonde, though, with Sasuke being upside down, the scariness wasn't as pronounced. "We aren't mentioning that again."

Naruto snorted. "Yeah, like I'd ever agree to _that_."

In the end, he was glad to be going home in a few hours, and he couldn't wait to tell Genie-chan all about his adventures in the forest. About Sasuke fighting a massive pig, or a snake almost squeezing him to death, or the story about how he and Hinata almost drowned when trying to fish.

He had so many stories to tell!

* * *

**Willow POV**

**Ichikamaru Ramen**

* * *

"So, then right, there was actually a bear inside the cave, though none of us could see it cause it was really dark, but I thought there was this funny smell," the boy's words were animated, though not as animated as his hand gestures explaining them were. "So I said; 'hey guys, can you make some fire-light' cause' it smells really funny in here', and Sasuke bam, and makes this fire ball! So in the end there was a family of bears in the cave, which chased us out, and Sasuke pushed me into a lake. Which he said was because a bear was close to me, but I couldn't smell the bear so…-!"

Willow's smile turned indulgent as she watched the animated boy speak, using his hands to further accentuate what he was trying to tell her. She had so far, managed to hear stories about fishing, a wild boar, scary trees (complete with a snake), and very recently, a bear. Willow was really, really starting to question the sanity of these ninja. Maybe having chakra messed with people's minds? Wasn't that a thought? "—and, and, what did _you_ do Nee-chan?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing really," Willow smiled wanly, trying not to think about the days spent holed up with Zabuza and his innuendos, mixed with Kakashi as his sheer embarrassment by those said innuendos. Honestly, the two weren't a good mix. "Just waiting for you to come back, I guess. It's pretty boring without you."

Naruto beamed brightly, before a frown formed on his face – giving her these wide blue eyes, that almost imminently, put her on edge. "You're bored aren't you? Not being able to do all your… y'know G' stuff?"

Light pink lips turned upwards with Naruto's claim of her G' stuff, which clearly, he was referring to her magic. And even though the kid was spot on, and she did miss the freedom, and the understanding that she got with others of her kind, she wasn't going to let him know that. She didn't want to worry him, he was so young, so sweet. He didn't need to be burdened by her problems. "A little," she conceded, forcing a grin to her face, which she felt was more indulgent than anything else. "But, I'm more interested to learn about how your week as been!"

There, topic avoided. The blonde kid's eyes lit up, ready to launch into another animated spiral about the forest, and how amazing Hinata's eyes were. Whatever the kid meant by that. "…and it was _so _amazing, cause y'know she knew where everything was, like, all the time! And I think we're gonna ace the Chunin Exams!"

"The what?" Willow interpreted, slowly, looking down at the boy. Slowly, the pair were standing up, ready to pay her old boss and began their trek down the path to their apartment. Wait, _their_ apartment? Shaking her head lightly, back to _Naruto's_ apartment, that was, and she focused her attentions on the slightly flustered boy.

"Yeah Kakashi-sensei wants us to take them, it's for a promotion, saying that we're better ninja now, and I really think I can pass with Hinata-chan, and Sasuke-baka," he tittered, sounding almost nervous to be discussing the issue with her. "Believe it!"

"I _do_ believe it," she humoured, before shrugging, really, she had no idea what would constitute moving up to a higher level. Naruto, was pretty much a trained body guard, thief, and stuff like that right? She mused, slowly, maybe he could benefit from learning a bit of strategy then?

If only Ron was here to teach the brat chess, he would have enjoyed it. Willow sighed, realising that the task, as always, was going to fall on her. Kakashi might be able to, but then again, she severely disapproved of many of his training methods, so maybe not. "Really? I mean, yeah! Of course you- hey! What do you think you're doing!?" his off-beat tone, rounded into an angry one, with his gaze fixating on something that her eyes couldn't quite make out.

That didn't mean that she wasn't following the angry stalking of the young orange-clad boy, on whatever journey he had set himself out on. Thought about teaching him strategy could wait for later. She needed to follow the irate blonde. "Hey! Put that kid down! You can't just go grabbing people off the street and beating them up you bastard!"

By the time the redhead had caught up, Naruto was already shouting insults at another, slightly taller boy with purple lines stripping his chubby face. And manners, and how to address people he didn't know, she resolved, watching at the older looking boy – next to Naruto, shook his fist, hand still enclosed around a brown haired kids shirt collar.

"He ran into me you little runt," the boy sneered, and Willow was reminded very strongly of Marcus Flint. "Get lost."

The blonde girl next to the boy, looking at the purple-faced boy warily, though she didn't say anything to counteract what he was doing. Willow frowned at the blatant display of bullying, could it be called that? Or was it just another Konoha tradition that she failed to understand? Judging by Naruto's anger though, perhaps not.

"You can't just beat kids up cause' they run into you, bastard!" Naruto yelled, once again – face going bright red. She really, really needed to teach him manners – though, she thought fondly, he was kind of like a younger version of her.

"What's this?" the boy asked, sneer on his face, and his brown eyes narrowed dangerously at Naruto, and Willow could feel her hackles rise, and her urge to protect the boy increase. "A bloody shrimp. Look kid, go find your mummy or something. Leave the big kids alone."

Naruto froze, and Willow started to get annoyed. "Hey, we can be civil here, can't we?" Willow spoke up, her green eyes narrowed at the boy, her lips creating a firm thin line – like she'd seen Professor McGonagall do on numerous occasions.

The boy looked over at her, back at the blonde girl, before sighing and dropping the brunette boy on the ground. "Tch, not worth it," he mumbled, causing the blonde to roll her eyes.

"Kankuro," a voice sounded from the trees to her ide, and Willow glanced over curiously, to see the figure of a small red-haired, green-eyed boy leaning against the tree trunk. His eyes, she mused, kind of reminded her of Snapes'. Like she was traveling down looming tunnels, with no end in sight, no warmth. "If you're finished making an idiot of yourself, Baki needs to see us."

"U-uh, yes Gaara, sorry."

Naruto was leaning back, a look of blatant disbelief on his face when the trio of them just walked away, ignoring the blonde boy presence. Naruto glanced back at her, as if to ask, 'what just happened?' And Willow shrugged her shoulders, now eyeing the little kid who was struggling to stand up; and looking at Naruto with an adorable smile, and a little gap between his teeth.

"Thank you for saving me," the boy said finally, trying overly hard to properly pronounce his words. "As you should have. I will let Gramps know of your good deed towards me!"

"Whose you're gramps?" Naruto asked hesitantly. Willows lips quirked, wondering if they'd managed to inexplicably, save another Draco Malfoy.

"The Hokage, obviously," the boy rolled his eyes, and with his attitude, she decided that he was officially demoted from cute.

"Oh, you're Old Man Hokage's grandson?" Naruto asked, his voice changing to a brighter and open more one. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! And this is Genie-nee-chan! What's your name!?"

"A-ah, Konohamaru?"

"Hey," Willow said brightly. "It sounds like you were named after the village, huh?"

"Yeah," the boy snapped, his face could have been black storm clouds for how happy he looked. "Gramps named me after the village. You can both go now."

With that, it was that strange little boy who left, huffily making his way down the street. This time, it was Willow to look at Naruto uncertainly. Naruto just shrugged his shoulders and said; "I think you offended him, Nee-chan."

* * *

**Naruto POV**

**Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

"Ah, nee-chan?"

"Yes, Naruto?"

"What are you making?" the blonde asked, eyeing the older girl, who had a stick in her hand – ("it's a w_and _Naruto.") – and was waving it over things like bolts, screws and a piece of paper. Naruto didn't care if she was cool, Willow-chan is weird.

Hesitantly, he leaned over to grasp a little thing that used to be a bolt, but now kind of looked like a mini castle; there was another three of them, but two were red, and two were orange. "It's a game from where I come from, a strategy one. If you're going to be taking that test, I think it's about time you started to learn some strategy."

"…I don't think strategy games will help Nee-chan."

"Actually," Willow-chan said, smirking, though she kept herself eyeing another screw, this one turning into a horse-like shape. "Chess is more like a battle strategy. The goal is to kill all the other pieces on the board, and force the king into submission by boxing him in."

"Oh," Naruto said slowly, looking at the shockingly tacky red and orange checked board she'd just created. "It sounds hard."

"It is," she muttered agreeably. "And I've never managed to win a game, so you've got some good odds."

"Why are the pieces different colours?" the boy asked again, still not really set on the whole game idea – he had so many more game ideas that he thought were better. "Can't we play a prank? Or eat some Ramen?"

Willow sighed loudly, and Naruto felt kind of bad for ruining all of her plans to play her Genie game with him. "Let's make this deal; if you can beat me five times – you get Ramen, and ten, we can play a prank."

Play a prank _with_ Genie-nee? "I'll totally win ten rounds, believe it!"

"Oh, I already do."

* * *

**Naruto and Willow's Prank.**

** 3rd Person POV.**

* * *

Silently creeping up towards the apartment, Willow glanced down at Naruto wearily, but the boy had such a huge grin of excitement on his face, that forced her to keep going with the silly promise she'd made the boy. Naruto hadn't thought that Genie-chan would actually go through with her end of the bargain, and was still reeling from her easy acceptance, and her ideas!

She was truly, a pranking genius. Using the fact that Zabuza still hadn't been bothered to fix the key issue, Willow easily pushed the door open, ensuring that they were both covered with invisibility spells first. They crept into the apartment, before Naruto departed to find the bathroom.

The blonde snuck into the room, making sure to squeeze equal amount of orange hair dye in each bottle of shampoo, conditioner, and the funny shaped one, before he snuck out, not before catching sight of the Ramen cups in the kitchen. A wide smile lit up his face, when he started to boil the water already in the kettle, and cook himself some Ramen.

Yeah, a prank and ramen!

Meanwhile, Willow had taken it upon herself to sneak into Zabuza's room – which turned out to be exactly how she thought it'd be, messy, and dark. With a wicked grin, and an attitude to get back at him for the past week, she raised her wand and started to colour all the walls a bright Gryffindor red.

To match, she made all his bedding a glittering gold, and transfigured his dresser into a very girly sort of vanity with little stars. He would be so confused with how she managed it, and at this moment she didn't care, though making sure, to leave no trace of herself behind, she left the now overly bright and sparkly room.

Walking a few steps down the hall though, she was greeted by the sight of a pair of chopsticks feeding the thin air some ramen, and she rolled her eyes. Making sure to feel her hand out till she caught him by the collar, she dragged him out of the room. Still not sure why she was surprised that he stopped for Ramen.

The next morning, Zabuza woke to a monstrosity of a bedroom – how the hell had someone managed to paint the walls red without him noticing? And… how had they changed his sheets? And where did his dresser go!? Resolving to figure out this mystery after he had a shower, he got up and ready for the day.

After the brief shower, the ex-missing nin was staring at himself in the mirror. Or more importantly, the bright shock of orange hair. Then it clicked, red walls, gold undertones – an unbearably girly dresser, honestly, and this shock of hair.

It could only be one person.

"You've challenged the wrong missing-nin to war, Genie-chan! I will destroy you!" he claimed to himself, his narrowed, fist raised and glaring at the roof.

It just so happened, that at that moment, a young boy with long brown hair entered the hall that Zabuza was standing in, and started to back away slowly. Whatever Genie-san had done to incur Zabuza's wrath, he didn't want a part of it.

* * *

**Willow POV**

**The -… _Naruto's_ Apartment**

* * *

The morning of Naruto's exam, Willow had woke unexpectedly, the feeling of dread creep into her stomach. Not able to shake the strange feeling, she got up, got dressed, and slipped into the little shoebox of a bathroom. Eyeing herself in the mirror, she thought that maybe she did look a little pale.

Creeping out so she didn't wake up Naruto, she crept into the kitchen, only for it to become apparent that it was three in the morning. She hadn't even had a dream, where was all this dread coming from? Trying to shake the feeling, she began to fry some eggs for herself.

Hey, maybe she was hungry? "Nee-chan? W-what are you doin'?" the sound of a young boy's voice echoed from behind her, getting interpreted by a rather cute yawn. Willow paused, halfway through cracking the egg, and turned around to see the boy rubbing his eyes, and looking at her blearily.

She felt a stab of guilt, but not enough to wash away her dread. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up kid. I'm making myself something to eat, hungry?"

"It's okay," Naruto yawned before shuffling over to the table, and plonking himself down. "I couldn't sleep anyway, and now we can not sleep together."

Willow smiled warmly at the boy, content in ignoring her own feelings of doom. "That sounds great. I'm frying eggs," she continued, turning back to crack the egg over the pan. "How many do you want?" 

"Five," he said slowly. "I'm not too hungry yet."

Willow smiled fondly, only Naruto could think five of anything was a light snack. Quickly though, she fried up about nine eggs, a pouring two very large glasses of milk before sitting down with Naruto at the table. "Thanks nee-chan."

"It's okay," Willow mumbled, feeling oddly like Mrs Weasley feeding a younger Willow at that moment. "Want to tell me why you can't sleep?"

"Mmph," he attempted to say, before she hit him on the hand lightly, and he swallowed his mouthful before continuing. "I'm kinda nervous about the Chunin Exam. Cause' my teams great but… I dunno…"

"You're not sure if you deserve to be there?" she asked quietly, and the by hung his head sheepishly, before giving her this wide grin, that looked a bit too forced for her liking.

"I'm gonna be the future Hokage y'know, and… I've just…"

"Never passed a test on your own before?" Willow guessed.

"Yeah."

"Don't worry kid," Willow said, her voice as soft as she could make it, and her hand resting on his shoulder, forcing him to actually look at her. "You've got this. You've been training so hard, and you've grown up so much since I've known you. You'll do great," she reassured, before adding. "Believe it."

His bright blue eyes widened drastically, a glittering look towards her, almost had her regretting her words before a set of tiny arms wrapped themselves around her waist, and his head buried itself in her stomach. "Please don't leave me."

"I never said I would," Willow commented lightly, though she could feel the dread in her stomach twisting and turning.

"But that's what Genie's do when they grant all of their wishes. They go onto the next person," the sound of Naruto's muffled voice, danced across her ears. "Can I wish that you'll never leave me, and _really_ be my sister and stay in Konoha forever?"

Willow didn't say anything for a good few moments, knowing she couldn't promise to never leave Konoha. That was the purpose of all her time holed together with Kakashi and Zabuza, wasn't it? She had the intent on leaving the lamp; on leaving _Naruto_. She started cringing before she muttered. "I'll _always_ be your real sister."

But was that enough to stay?

"Always?"

Was it enough to leave everything she loved behind?

"Always."

This was one promise, that she wasn't sure she would keep.

* * *

**Naruto POV**

**The First Exam**

* * *

"What a bunch of wet nosed brats!" a voice cowed from over the small crowed of Genin milling about the room. "If you can't even get passed the door, what makes you think you'll be able to pass the test!?"

Naruto glanced up to the man who was speaking, his eyes focusing on the three plaque. Why was this bastard blocking their entrance into the exam? Did he not think them good enough for it? Before Naruto could so much as say a word, Sasuke grabbed his arm, shaking his head, before looking pointedly at the stairs. Why was he… oh! They'd only walked up one flight of stairs! That's have to make this the second floor!

Genjutsu! Sasuke made a 'come on' motion with his head, Naruto only throwing one glance back at the fake door, before he paused, and barrelled to the front. Sasuke sighed, and Hinata smiled a soft looking smile, before they followed him, battling through the crowd. "What. Are. You. Doing?" Sasuke said, teeth gritted, sounding annoyed.

"Hey Lee! Are you okay?" Naruto asked ignoring his teammate, in favour of the green-clad boy, who looked seriously beat up, sitting on the floor. "Do you want my help to beat someone up?"

If they'd beaten Lee though, Naruto really didn't want to have to face them. Though this is what friends did, protect. "Ah, Naruto! It's good to see you here, battling to promote your youth," he was beaming, and Naruto decided he was okay.

"Oh god," Sasuke said, voice disgusted as he looked between the two. "It's another Naruto but in green."

"Shut up bastard," Naruto snapped. "The jumpsuit is cool."

"_Make_ me idiot."

"Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun; please, don't fight," Hinata said, her kind voice just enough for the pair of them to freeze in their tracks. Hinata was scary when she was really nice. Lee's eyes erode in on Hinata before he grinned.

"Neji! It's a member of your esteemed family!" Lee said, drawing himself out of his pathetic slump to offer Hinata his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet a relative of Neji."

"It was your idea to not draw attention," a bored voice drawled, and blue eyes narrowed. Ah, this bastard. He'd forgotten he was related to his teammate. "Hinata-sama, I see you're team has made it to the exam. Do not worry, it is not in your fate to get very far."

"Shut up Neji," Naruto commented offhandedly, causing the boy to glare at him darkly. "Hey Buns-chan!"

"Naruto!" Tenten stepped forward to ruffle his hair, a smile on her face. "Don't call me that. And where have you been for the last week? Lee missed having you around."

"Oh, sorry, Sensei locked us in the Forest of Death for a week," he tried to explain, not knowing why Sasuke was starting to hit his head with his hand. "He didn't really warn us so I couldn't tell you. Sorry."

"Um, that's fine?" Tenten asked, hesitantly. "It's a pleasure to meet you both," she finally deferred to the two Genin behind Naruto. "Naruto told us all about you."

"Naruto," Sasuke said warningly.

"Uh," the blonde's voice came out as a squeak. "We uh, um – need to go over there!" he pointed at the staircase, and without a glance back at the black haired boy, bowled over the unsuspecting Genin wannabees that were milling around the wrong door.

Naruto ran for the correct door the second he hurled himself up the correct flight of stairs, though he could hear the distinct sound of Sasuke and Hinata's footsteps behind him. Finding the right door, he wrenched it open, and catapulted himself into the room.

Ignoring the judgemental stare he was receiving from all the other ninja in the room, who were much older, and bigger than he was, and he dove behind a desk, hoping that Sasuke wouldn't see him – nor would he attempt to kill him. Of course though, the second his teammates entered the room, they're eyes zeroed in on him. Of course, he had to have the two teammates that nothing escaped their notice.

Sasuke and Hinata, both ignored the glares they were receiving as they entered the room too. It was like it washed over their shoulders, not even noticing. "Sasuke! How've you been, cutie?" a pair of twin voices yelled, and from two sides, a blonde and a pink haired girl lunged for the Uchiha, only to have him side-step the pair of them and continue on towards Naruto.

"Sasuke!?" 

"You," he stopped in front of Naruto. "What did you say?"

"Just that you were a bastard," Naruto lied brightly. He didn't want Sasuke to know he –gag- enjoyed his presence and thought of him as a friend!

"Bullshit," he snapped. "You wouldn't have run then. Hinata?"

"Um, I don't think it matters Sasuke-kun," Hinata said slowly, though she too looked interested. "Perhaps we should focus on the exam… and everyone's staring at us."

"Let them," Sasuke scowled, glancing over at the Konoha genin – and avoiding eye contact with Ino and Sakura. "Mindless sheep, they'll give up once they realise we can't be intimidated."

Hinata nodded slowly, and Naruto grinned happy that Sasuke seemed to have forgotten they're slightly running problem. Sasuke turned his sharp eyes back to Naruto, scowl present on his face, though, he didn't utter a single word. Just crossed his arms over his chest and huffed.

Silence reigned over the three of them, but that didn't include the rest of the room. Naruto let his eyes wander around the room, of course he could see the people he went to the academy with; and then there was Lee and his team who just snuck in. The only other team he noticed was the one he got into a fight with a few days ago. The blonde girl, with the purple faced prick and the creepy redhead.

Shuddering at the memory of the kids voice, he didn't really notice when a white-haired guy started to approach the rookies; though he did notice when half the sound in the room started to dim down. "Huh? What's-"

Sasuke held up his finger and then gestured to a guy who was sitting cross legged in front of their old classmates. Naruto shifted uncomfortably. "That guy," Hinata started to whisper, turning her head so she was talking directly into his ear. "Has something called a Shinobi Skill Card. He's asking if they want any information on any of the candidates. Everyone's listening in."

"Oh," Naruto responded, focusing on what the guy was saying.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Kiba asked bluntly. Naruto blinked, looking sideways at his teammate, honestly, why was Kiba interested in knowing Sasukes?!

"Alright," the older Genin sounded excited to be saying, though his focus wasn't exactly on the group; but looking through the group? Was he looking for someone? Naruto turned to Sasuke, as if to ask if he got the same vibe. Naruto wasn't sure if he was frowning because his name was called, or because he thought this guy was odd. "Uchiha Sasuke, graduated a year ago, as the rookie of the year. He's done 35 D ranked missions? And one B rank. He's exceptional in all areas, excelling in Ninjutsu. Wow, graduated for six months with a B rank?"

"As if he's done a B rank!" Kiba scoffed, before barking; "Uzuamki Naruto!"

This time it was Naruto to frown, not wanting his information to come up on those cards. The guy shuffled his cards again, picking one up and looking at it briefly. "Again, graduated six months ago. With 35 D rank missions and one B rank. There's nothing on his skills though, huh? That's odd considering he's a Leaf Genin."

"No way did Naruto do a B rank!" this time it was Sakura who chimed in. "And how'd they manage 35 D ranks!? We only did 7!"

In unison, Sasuke, Hinata and Naruto all shuddered. "Well, it says here that their Sensei is an ex-anbu captain."

Kakashi-sensei is a what!? Naruto looked to Hinata to explain but she looked just as shocked as he was, in fact, she was frowning rather heavily. Sasuke looked back at the pair, before raising an eyebrow. "The identity of anbu is meant to be a secret," Hinata muttered as low as she possibly could. "Even ex-anbu… No one should be able to know."

They all sat in silence with that. "I knew Sensei was a sadistic bastard."

"It does explain a lot," Sasuke responded dryly. Before any of them could utter another word, a ninja that was sitting behind them, lunged over them, Naruto ducked rather fast, but his target seemed to be the man dishing out about them. Good, Naruto thought annoyed.

The silver haired guy simply moved his head to the side, allowing the knives he'd thrown to fly harmlessly over his head. "We don't trust that guy," Sasuke muttered in the confusion of the battle. "We don't trust anyone that isn't one of us three."

"Not even Lee and Buns-chan?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "What part of '_no one'_ don't you understand, idiot?"

* * *

**Kakashi POV**

**The Hokage's Tower**

* * *

Kakashi, had not once been to meeting where they were electing newly promoted Genin to become Chunin, and, to be completely honest, he had no idea how it was going to come to pass. All he knew was that he was going to send his student's into that exam, and he didn't particular care that normally, you had to wait a year.

He based that assumption on himself, having become a Chunin a year after making Genin. He felt, that this honestly, could be used as a reasonable baseline. Kakashi watched as his co-workers, and a few acquaintances (that might have been closer to friends than not), entered the room, grim looks on the face of all of them.

They knew what this exam was about, they knew what they were signing their student's up to. This exam, pushed Ninja into actually being a real assets to the country. Many Genin, weren't allowed to anything of importance, Chunin however, had earned the right to 'spread their wings', so to speak.

The Hokage eyes each of the Jonin Sensei, which, Kakashi admitted, were far more of than he had originally thought. "It is again, this time of year. I will be asking you all right now. Do any of you wish to enter your student's in the Chunin Exam."

"I believe my students have managed enough, to enter this contest of youth," Gai, the enteral bane of his existence, (even if he admitted that he somewhat liked his light-hearted nature, when he wasn't annoying him that was), stepped forward, his thumbs turned upwards, and that grin full of dazzling white teeth on his face. Kakashi, could not figure this man out, at all.

So he stopped bothering to try. Some people, like Gai, were just not meant to be dissected the way he always did with people. Because unlike most people, Gai wasn't clear cut in his words, or motives – but he digressed, watching as a few more of the teachers of the older students stepped forward.

It was a Konoha Exam, so they weren't exactly limited by the amount of candidates they could spend. Kakashi slowly raised his hand, faking his smile, showing it through his curved eye, his words cutting through the next person who wanted to speak up. It took talent, to be as annoying as he was, he mused eyeing the angry Jonin that was currently glaring at him. "I want to enrol those kids I teach."

The Hokage sighed, already sounding tired, but this seemed to rile up the brown haired man seated next to him. To this man, Iruka's, credit though, he didn't sound very annoyed with his response. "Your Genin, Hatake-san, only graduated six months ago. Don't you think it's a bit, ah, shall we say _premature_ to be thinking that?"

The silver haired ninja imminently squashed down the response that could have been counted on from Zabuza; this really wasn't the sort of place that the ex-missing nin's words would be useful. Instead of doing anything, he just shrugged his shoulders, and ignored the mummers of the other Jonin behind him.

Gossip about how he was training those kids really didn't bother him all that much. Half thought he threw them to the wolves, and let them learn on their own, and the other half thought he trained them like ANBU. He wouldn't lie, had had given them exercises from his Anbu days, but that was only because those methods worked.

Couldn't argue with results, right? "I think they'll be fine," Kakashi shrugged his shoulders, already knowing that his students would grace that exam – it was nothing a Chunin Academy teacher could stop.

"Six months ago, those kids were my students, and I know what their capable of, and this, this isn't something they can handle!" the man's voice had reached a stage of high strung stress, and Kakashi rolled his eye. Seriously, had he seen those minions of his lately?

They were more than ready, he didn't expect them to pass, not really. Though, he knew that this would give them the much needed insight to how this whole thing worked, and they needed to know – before it was too late. "Eh, I've been teaching them for the past six months, they'll be fine."

"Their mental capabilities-"

"Look," Kakashi said, cutting him off with a rather unimpressed air about him – one that normally inspired a rant about how 'hip' he was from Gai. "I don't really care what you think. They're _my_ soldiers, and I think they're ready."

The Hokage sighed as the irate brunette turned to him for support – a commonality of those that have to argue with him about something. When would they realise he simply didn't care for their opinion? He had never much cared for those, and he wasn't about starting to care either.

Caring was exhausting, and he didn't like doing it. "It was well within Kakahi's rights to nominate his team, and if he thinks his team can manage it-."

"They c_an't-!"_

"Sasuke was the rookie of the year," Kakashi responded blandly, ignoring the curious looks from the Jonin next to him. "He has the best control of his chakra I've seen in a Genin. Hinata, had the best scores for physical fighting within her year," he continued, watching the man flinch back slightly, and he wasn't about to stop there.

"I've never seen someone so ruthless in a fight," whilst not exactly true, she was rather adamant about protecting her teammates, and she _was _rather brutal with her Clan's chosen Taijutsu when she had reason to be. Locking them in the forest of death had convinced him of that.

"And Naruto had the highest test scores, since, well, forever," he continued, ignoring the finch he got the second the blonde boy's name was mentioned. Ah, the problem was with Naruto being in the battlefield, was it? "He might as well be the strongest Genin in this room."

With the power of the Kyubi, he had no doubts about this. The sore throb of the scar that was embedded on his chest was testament of that. It had been nearly a month since that mission, and the wound Naruto had inflicted was still as red and raw as it had been the day he'd gotten it.

He stared to desensitise himself to the pain. "Do I have any more objections?" he asked, false humour lacing his decidedly not amused self. Honestly, Kakashi did not like having to explain himself that much. "No? Excellent! Who's next?"

"…I want to nominate my team!" two voices cried out in unison the second the words left his lips. "If Kakashi can nominate his team, so can I," Asuma continued.

"My team, are also ready," Kurenai agreed, red eyes flashing at both of them. The Hokage sighed again, and that was the moment he knew that he had to stay behind for a chat, the look the Hokage flashed him, always indicated that they were in for a chat.

Damn, was the window a viable option? They had just recently gotten it fixed, but windows were made to be broken, in his humble opinion.


	12. Chapter 12

**Ain't Never Had a Friend Like Me**

**Chapter 12: The Idea of Collars, and Godfathers**

A/N - Sorry for the delay in this chapter. I wasn't very sure where I was going with certain things, I'm sure of these now. I'm not going to make any other excuses for forgetting to update though. I think we can all safely assume that this is just what I'm like as a person. Enjoy this! Oh, and I do have a quick question, mere curiosity really. After the end of this chapter; _do any of you think that Jiraiya has any __ulterior motives?_

Well that and this chapter is where things start to really heat up with this fic. I had been going for a 'butterfly affect AU', so things were changing rather slowly at the beginning. Nothing happens all at once after all. I just wanted to warn you, that in a few chapters, this story will start becoming an actual AU.

* * *

**Willow POV**

* * *

The dread that had formed in the pits of her stomach, on the morning before Naruto went off to take that test of his, still hadn't left. Without the normal distractions that she'd managed to side-track herself with being present as well, she was beginning to feel rather paranoid. She keep thinking, and thinking, and convincing herself of crazy ideas. What if this was also part of the Lamp's power? A sense of dread? What if it wasn't, though? That was the scary thought. It was possible, however slim, that this could be something currently unrelated to her unusual imprisonment.

Normally, she would be proactive with something like this. But where could she start? Who could she ask? No one. It was in that exact moment that Willow actually felt _alone_. Being with Naruto, and Zabuza and Haku, it distracted her momentarily, but it didn't detract from the fact that they didn't know _what _she was. She couldn't completely confide in them. She missed England, honestly. The rainy skies, the tall buildings, the constant rush. She missed Ron, she missed _Hermione. _She missed the fact that as soon as she normally felt something off, she had her team of friends there to figure it out.

She was so alone in this place. She _was_ alone, and she was not so good at actually being alone. These thoughts though, were the reason she dragged herself up, forced herself to get ready, even if she had nothing to do, and just leave the house. Not that the red head actually had anywhere to go, she hadn't been adamant to make friends – she hadn't wanted the pain of leaving them. She didn't have anything else to do, in case she realized she needed to chase Naruto halfway across the world, because of a bloody lamp.

So she went to a bookstore instead. It was a safe option, a wise one.

After all, distractions were good and she still hadn't read the last Icha Icha yet, and was rather looking forward to obtaining the racy material. If only Hermione could see her now, she mused in amusement. Would she approve of her reading the books so much, or disapprove because of its lewd material? Willow liked to think Hermione would approve.

That and hey, distractions were hard to find. When she entered the store, the assistant shot her a charming smile, which only served to make her feel guilty over the way she intended of 'paying' for said book. You would think she'd get used to it, but she never did. In her world, she was so rich that not paying for something was actually wildly beyond her. Quickly, she scurried over to the 'Adult Romance' section, and skewered the entire shelf for the last one. Icha Icha Pool Time, which she was pleased to note seemed to have its own entire spin off series.

Making the snap decision to find the entirety of the spin off to take with her, she never noticed the man trying to walk behind her, to get to the counter. So in classical Potter style, she stepped backwards the second he was directly behind her, and knocked him into the shelf behind them; causing numerous books to cascade down upon the poor man. Oops. "Oops, I'm so sorry!" Willow called, ducking down to help pick the books up from the flustered man.

He glanced up at her, anger on his face before it was waved away in a string of pleasantness. "It's alright," the man claimed, brushing his brown hair out of nondescript features. Slowly, the two of them managed to get him out from under the tumble of books, and managed to place all of said books back onto the shelf. Willow apologizing every few moments, her voice and expressions flustered with the embarrassment that she felt over the entire situation. "Really, it's fine. I wasn't watching where I was walking anyway."

Willow could feel herself going red, much to her mortification. He didn't want to hear her say 'sorry' another time, but, she still felt oddly responsible. So with the books she already had hidden on her body, and the one's she'd been holding securely tucked back into the shelf, she walked the man out. After all, it'd only be polite to make sure this man was alright, with no concussions that she'd might have accidentally caused.

The man, mah – she really should get his name, seemed sheepish to have her follow him out, and insist that he got home safely. Willow herself, didn't exactly see it as an embarrassing situation. Instead, she treated it like making a friend. Even if she was only following him about to make sure she hadn't originally maimed him some way. On the light stroll, which left the guy completely bewildered, they chatted about mundane things like pet dogs, and forgetting to water the plants.

All in all, he was a pretty decent guy. If not a bit boring, but they couldn't all have stories about battling Dark Lords, and having Demon's sealed within their pseudo siblings stomachs.

That was of course, until… "Genie-_chan_! Is this that elusive date from the other night?" Zabuza had quite literally, appeared out of nowhere, popping out right in front of the unlikely pair, his small beady eyes looking deep into the poor mans. A wicked grin etched on his face.

In fact, this guy looked ready just to faint at the sight of the Ninja. Which, she admitted, looked a lot more toned down than she recalled him being. In fact, if she didn't know better, she'd say he went into Kakashi's wardrobe and stole one of the man's faithful uniforms. If anything, this made him less scary, though, this poor guy obviously wasn't used to seeing someone as tall and imposing as Zabuza.

"No," Willow responded coolly, successfully diverting the attention back to her. Only briefly wondering if this guy fainting out of shock, and hitting his head would count as her fault as well. "I accidently knocked him into bookshelf and I'm making sure he gets home without killing himself."

"How nice," Zabuza flashed her a grin, though his dark little eyes were still fixated on the man, who looked about ten seconds away from squealing like a pig, and running in the opposite direction. "Why didn't _my apartment _get the same treatment?'

"Oh," she paused momentarily, at a loss of what she should be saying next. "You saw that, did you?"

"Saw it? My hair, Genie." The man crudely pointed at the battered orange strands, sounding and looking, decidedly unimpressed. His hair of course, looked like he'd spent a few hours under water in an attempt to get the highly pigmented colour to wash out. "I'd watch out," his eyes now narrowed on her.

"You won't do anything," she replied confidently. "I'm the one who makes your food."

Zabuza paused, before grinning, a wide smile that showed off all his brilliantly white, but strangely pointed teeth. "Not to _you _maybe, but I sense a weakness."

Her mind instantly jumped to an orange loving blonde kid, when she realised he was grinning cheekily at the man next to her. Whose skin had just turned a shade of pasty green with the way that the Ninja was looking at him. "Ah, Genie-san, is it? I really have to go, though thank you for being so kind. I uh, really have something to do."

With that, he was gone – actually running in the opposite direction, and Willow scowled at Zabuza. "You have problems. Does threatening civilians always work for you?"

"I based my ideas of civilians in Konoha off you," he shrugged his shoulders, cracking his knuckles offhandedly. Like this should all make perfect sense to her.

Willow shook her head, pushing down the obvious retort that she was dying to dish out, instead smarmily muttering; "maybe we should get you a black collar for your neck like that guy had, so we can reign you in."

This time, the older man looked at her strangely. Stopping only to roll his eyes. "What collar?"

"That black ring around his neck," Willow said impatiently, rolling her eyes right back at him. The little thing was so dark and vivid, she had originally pegged it for a tattoo. "Come on, it was in the middle of his neck, and dark black, you honestly couldn't miss it."

Zabuza blinked, before frowning. "Still trying to prank me are you? I'm a former missing nin, you can't catch me off guard that easily."

"No," Willow rebuffed starting to get annoyed. It certainly was there, and Zabuza had to have seen that! "He certainly _did_ have a black ring around his neck. You'd have to be blind to miss it!"

"Whatever," Zabuza dismissed her with a wave of his hand. Did Zabuza really not see the black ring that hung around that guy's neck? If he couldn't, then why could she? Did it mean something? Was it the source of dread? Or was this a come-back prank of Zabuza's for the whole hair ordeal. "I'm going on my first mission today, make sure Haku comes over to eat something. He'd prefer to starve then ask for help."

There was the real reason that Zabuza approached her. Though, then that didn't explain just exactly what that black ring around the guys neck was. Willow had a feeling, that her life was going to get a whole lot complicated. Coming from a girl who was currently bound to a magic lamp, that gave her a special bond with a pre-teen ninja, she felt that this was not a good thing.

* * *

**Naruto POV**

**First Exam**

* * *

No, Naruto thought in despair, no, no and a big fat no. When the pieces of paper started to circulate across the room, Naruto started to panic, no. He'd never ever managed to pass a written test – his Graduation test be damned, he didn't do that, not really. He was going to fail so soon.

No, no, no! He should have just _wished _to be a Chunin! No, he couldn't have done that. He wouldn't have earned it then, but still! Not a test! "Ten questions, and ten points," the scared man at the front of the classroom was barking at them. "You get a question wrong, you lose a point. This test, is also a team test, so if someone on the team fails, so do you. If we catch any of you cheating, we deduct two points from the cheaters entire team."

Naruto almost wished that his teammates were glaring at him, almost. The fact that they hardly seemed bothered, however, was starting to make him nervous. Oh no oh no, they actually expected him to pull through this test. Kakashi-sensei didn't prepare him for this, Brows-sensei didn't prepare him for this, nee-chan… Wait, maybe the test held things that she taught him!?

"You're exam starts now!" the slightly scary, scarred man yelled at them, eyes narrowed and a scowl of his harsh features. Naruto took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and flipped the paper over, eyeing drinking in the first question. Okay, he was not going to be able to cipher that mess… The angle of what? Next. The speed of…? The battle and what!?

The further Naruto read, the harder the questions seemed to get, until he reached the tenth question, only to find a simple 'wait and see' question. Damn it! He couldn't even answer one of these! They were so hard! Sasuke was so going to kill him when he caused the entire team to fail. He'd be dead, no more Ramen, no more strange Genie games, no more…

Wait, all he needed to do was what he did for his first test he couldn't pass… cheat! He didn't have a Genie here to answer the questions for him though, think! Think! He needed this, what did he do!? Okay, think Naruto. Loopholes! He needed a loophole, nee-chan had told him about those.

A flaw in their rules, which he needed to find and exploit for himself, just like when he got Kakashi-sensei to teach him tree walking. A weakness, a loophole that allowed him to push Sensei into teaching them all, because after that, Sensei really hard started teaching them properly. Two points for every time he got caught cheating…

That means if he got caught once, and the person he stole the answers from had answered all ten, and gotten them right, he'd still have eight points. That's it! He didn't even have to think of a sneaky way of doing it, he just needed to take his answers off the person who'd finished! With that, the blonde boy concentrated on the moving pens around him, waiting for one of them to drop off.

As it happened, about ten minutes after he'd decided this; the person next to him had placed his pen down, and looked up at the guy in charge. Naruto shuddered, before stealing all of his courage, leaning over and plucking the piece of paper off the desk – slapping the other Genin's hand when he tried to snatch it back.

He could feel the eyes on him, but as quickly as he could, he memorized all of the answers on the sheet, trying to ignore the sounds of a head hitting the desk. "Kid, blondie, what are doing?" the scary guy from the front asked, his voice hard, almost like he wasn't sure what he was saying.

Naruto easily gave the paper back, the answers swirling in his brain. "Loophole," he explained, ignoring the mutters of the others in the classroom. "You only caught me once. Only two points," he claimed before quickly jolting down the answers he'd read on the paper.

The man, did look seriously annoyed, but with Naruto placing his pen down, only two points down, he felt fairly vindicated. Not ten minutes later, and shockingly, no one had the guts to exploit the loophole like Naruto had, it was all over. "Pens down, it's time for the tenth question. Also, I'm adding a new rule. If a team member doesn't answer it right, you all lose your points, and get disqualified. You can choose to take this question, or reject it."

Was there a loophole in that? "Who would choose to reject it?!" a ninja that sat a few rows behind Naruto had called then.

"I have another rule," the scared man claimed, apparently, never finished with these rules he seemed to just make up. "If you get it wrong, you never get to take the Chunin Exam again."

"There's people here who've taken this test _multiple times _already!" Kiba had stood up, his fist curved in anger.

"Yeah, that was when I wasn't in charge," he snapped. "No loopholes with this one," Naruto could feel the glower in his direction. "If you don't want to take it, leave now!"

"I quit, I can't do it!" the guy that had been sitting next to him abruptly stood, his two teammates looking very annoyed with him.

"Neither can I. Sorry guys." And just like that, they all left, filling one after the other, until at least a third of the students had walked right out of that door. Naruto clenched his jaw. He could do this. He was a great ninja, and he was strong, and he could get himself out of the question, he was sure of it.

He just needed to be practical, he needed to be set. He needed to trust in his teammates. They had this. "Last call," the man called again. "If you don't leave right now you'll be subjected to the question… All of you are staying? Are you sure? Hm. Well, if that's the case… you all just passed the exam."

There was a loud chorus of; "_what_!?" that echoed throughout the classroom.

"The tenth question?" the cute pink haired girl from his Academy class, Sakura called out.

"That was it."

"Then what was the purpose of the other nine questions!?" the blonde haired girl, that he recalled being next to the purple-paint boy when he was beating up Old Man Hokage's grandson, seethed.

"It was a test on your ability to spy, basically you were meant to cheat," he explained, though he was beginning to sound more annoyed than happy. "Most who cheated obviously failed; though loopholes might help you in this exam, if you get caught during a mission during espionage, being unseen is the difference between life or death."

* * *

Sandame's POV

The Hokage's Office

* * *

"Ibiki-kun, would you please tell us how our candidates fared in your exam?" The Hokage asked, pipe dangling from his lips, like it was it most situations. The young Academy teacher Iruka, seated beside him, the six Genin Sensei's that had teams entered into the Chunin exam, milling about, watching the Interrogator with wary eyes, cautious about how their students might have fared. "Every single Leaf team passed," Ibiki said slowly. "They all appeared to get the test's main purpose right away. Unfortunately, none of them managed a pass without getting caught cheating, bar one."

The man scrunched up his scared face, like he was trying to recall who it had been. Himself, he leaned forward, interested in the Genin that managed to not get caught by Ibiki. "Haruno Sakura. She also had all the answers correct."

"Ha," a young female Jonin by the name of Kurenai, said, a proud look on her face. She was giving Asuma-kun quite a large smirk at the point. "I t_old you _my kid was pretty much a genius."

"Bah," Asuma muttered back, not at all very happy with the arrangement.

"There was also another kid that surprised us," Ibiki interjected. "We caught him cheating because he claimed it was a 'loophole', and I'll admit, I think this kid should go into diplomacy. Best to keep an eye on that one."

The Hokage had a sense of dread sink into his stomach. Though he wasn't sure why exactly, he should be ecstatic about a new budding diplomat, they had so few good ones. And by good ones, he meant ones that didn't try and start a fight. Though, he had a feeling that the answer to his question would cause him a bigger headache than it was worth. "How'd the kid do it?" Haru, a rather well-rounded, if not aged Jonin asked, expressing the interest of all the other Jonin in the room.

"Hm? Well, he picked up the paper off one of our plants, and copied the answers, claiming that he was only caught cheating once, and therefore was only allowed to be penalized for cheating once," he responded, annoyance spread across his features. "I believe we made the rules a bit too broad, though we didn't think any Genin would come up with _that _sort of solution."

"Bet it was one of my kids," Asuma claimed, hauntingly to the dark haired woman beside him. His lips twitched upwards, though he really did attempt to hide his amusement. The Genin who had pulled that off, surely had a great deal of creativity and problem solving skills to work this out.

Ibiki shrugged, mainly because he had no idea which Genin belonged to which Jonin. He only knew names, and scores. Though in a few years, Ibiki would surely know the innermost secrets of all those who passed by Chunin and into Jonin. He didn't make top interrogator by not knowing what made others around him tick. It was this ability of his that made him so invaluable. "Uzumaki Naruto."

In an instant, all eyes locked onto Kakashi, who was rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. When had Naruto learned what a _loophole_ was? The Genin that showed promise in becoming a Diplomat was Naruto? Pranking, unintentionally rude Naruto? Blunt, and loud Naruto? The one that might grow to make treaties with other countries, that held them on top, was Naruto!? Had that strange woman taught him about legal prowess? If so, maybe she wasn't as suspicious as he first though. Or maybe, she was even more so now.

"Of _course_ Kakashi's kid is the one with the attitude problem."

"Hey," Kakashi retaliated, his voice mild, not hint of proper offence in his tone – if anything, he sounded rather amused by the whole ordeal. Like he'd somewhat expected it to happen. "The kid came to me _already_ that way."

That sent the brief thought that it could be Kakashi teaching Naruto about these sorts of things out of his mind. It had to be the girl named Genie. What was her angle? What did she get from it? If he hadn't already issued six background checks and come up empty, he'd issue another one. Because in all honesty, Naruto wouldn't have been able to spot a loophole in _Ibiki's _rules before this woman had come into his life.

He really, really needed to make sure that woman was safe to keep around Naruto. Maybe it was about time he brought in some extra help – Jiraiya should be back by now.

Like it or not though, she was helping him progress to reach his full potential. The scary thing was, that he didn't know why she was doing it. "He's yours is he, Hatake?" his top interrogator asked, unamused. "That explains a lot."

"Ah."

Right at that moment, any hesitation he had previously held about letting Kakashi's Genin enter the exam were erased. Perhaps, Kakashi had prepared them more than he originally thought. Maybe, he wasn't putting them through the test because he wanted them to get a real dose of what it meant to be a ninja – maybe, he actually felt that they were ready.

Maybe, he should have taken the silver haired mans' words from a few days previously a bit more seriously. He had in fact, claimed that Naruto was the strongest Genin, that Sasuke was the brightest, and Hinata would fight to all costs. Those, he started to realize, weren't just empty words to placate Iruka-kun.

The Third Hokage, leaned back in his chair, and watched the Jonin bicker about the answers on the paper, and fight over the ways their students got caught cheating. Maybe, they might actually have one of the first rookie Genin teams passing to Chunin. Which, if he recalled correctly, had only happened once before.

With _his _Genin team. The legendary Sannin.

* * *

**Naruto POV**

**The Forest of Death**

* * *

The second that Naruto saw the wired fences, and the moss covered trees hanging at odd angles, draping over the fence like a menacing sign, he felt dread. The moment he heard a strange hissing sound from inside the forest, he was left cringing – images of a monstrous snake popping into his mind. With a glance at his reluctant team mates, he was about ready to get on his knees and beg to this strange purple haired lady to let them out of the exam.

He didn't want to be a Chunin anyway. Not if it meant… "This is the Forest of Death," the crazy purple haired lady claimed, wide smile, excitement ready for all to see. "And for the next week -."

"No!" Naruto yelled the second he heard the word 'week'. He couldn't, and he wouldn't…! That was just _mean and cruel and heartless and… _ "I quit!"

Sasuke hand connected with the back of his head, the boy's face scowling, but that didn't stop him looking at the purple-haired lady pleadingly. Begging for another option, another way. "It's too late now. You _have_ to, just try not to get eaten," her teeth gleamed, white and proud. Her eyes, they kind of felt like razors, cutting through his soul and slashing up all his hopes and dreams. "Or… I could put you out of your misery now!"

Naruto sensed the kunai whizzing towards his face before he saw the older lady move. Swiftly, he dropped his weight down, and ducking before the crazy woman could nick his cheek with the kunai. With his body now on the floor he sent himself cantering towards Sasuke, he would've gone flying too if it wasn't for the said boy, who stopped him from rolling away by kicking out his foot – it connecting with his stomach, with a sigh and both hands in his pockets. "Stop making a scene, idiot."

"I don't want to spend a_nother _week in that _hell_ Sasuke!"

"Nice reflexes," Crazy-Lady-Anko complimented brightly, sounded a few watts brighter with the way he managed to evade her mangling his face. She was nuts! "Sounds like they know just how _fun _my playground can be!"

A few of the other Genin had actually begun to look nervous, glancing at each other out of the corner of their eyes. Anko slowly moved back, a wide battle hungry grin loitering over her features, her gaze still focused on Naruto. "You all need to sign these documents, stating that if you're permanently maimed, it's not Konoha's fault. Great, now when you hand in those forms, you'll get another scroll. Now, to complete this mission, you need to get to halves of the scrolls. One Earth and one Heaven. You'll have to take the other one from another team, and to do that, you can do whatever you want. Only thirteen teams, will survive."

"What are we meant to do for food?!" Choji a very large sort of boy asked, his eyes wide, and panicked. Naruto shuddered, he knew that it was better to starve than actually eat half of the stuff in the forest. Unless you managed to get a non-poisonous animal and burn it until any shred of poison was incinerated.

Sasuke was actually getting quite good at that, so maybe they'd be fine.

She shrugged her shoulders, and she even made that look creepy. "That's your problem, not mine. There's plenty to eat in the forest. Just avoid the man-eating creatures, poisonous plant, deadly insects, unpredictable terrain and unhealthy water supplies."

As if on cue, all the shoulders of the members of squad seven dropped in union. Kiba, the boy who had a white dog buried in the hood of his coat, suddenly turned to Naruto, finger pointed and voice a high pitched yell. "You! It's not that bad right!? She's trying to scare us, right?!" 

Inwardly bristling at being addressed 'you', Naruto scowled at the boy he used to play pranks with in the Academy. "It's _worse_. We didn't even get warned about half that stuff either."

"What were you _doing _in there anyway?" Ino asked, hands on her hips, jaw jutted out – disbelief that they'd actually gone through that horrible ordeal, quite obviously painted onto her face. The rest of the group, seemed to be happy to sit back and listen, eager to glean any useful information out of the only team that had seemed to be in there before.

"Kakashi-sensei has strange concepts on what a survival exercise should be," this time, it was Hinata who responded, and Naruto felt really proud that she hadn't stuttered once, all day! The other Genin looked at each other warily. "This feels rather tame, actually."

"…Is that the team with 35 D Rank missions and a B Rank one?" Naruto overheard a sandy haired boy, mumble from behind his back. Naruto didn't really recognise his headband. Nor did he particularly feel like asking. So he ignored them, in favour of listening to the crazy purple haired lady.

Anko grinned. "Oh, it's Hatake's kids!" she said before dissolving in a fit of uproarish laughter. "Rules then! Something you three _do_ have to follow! One, you fail without the two scrolls, or without reaching the tower. Two! If a team member is dead or with a severe injury, you're all out! Three! You can't leave the forest! Lastly! You cannot under any circumstances take a peek at what's inside the scroll!"

"What happens if you do?"

The crazy lady's grin widened even further with that question, and Naruto wanted to run in the opposite direction. "What kind of rookie team has that sort of mission assignment anyway?" Naruto heard another Genin mutter, though when he looked up, this time, his eye connected with the creepy red-haired kid that took the purple faced bully away.

It hadn't been him that had said the words, but the girl next to him, though the boys gaze was more drawing than hers. Naruto frowned before looking away. How'd a team from Suna know they were rookies? …Was it that guy with the Shinobi skill cards?

That guy really shouldn't be trusted.

* * *

Willow POV

Hot Springs

* * *

In a vain attempt to not think about Naruto's exam, the latent dread she felt, or the extra six people she'd seen today with black rings around their necks, Willow decided to do the simple thing. She went to a Hot Spring. Hermione and Ginny both always had gone on about how nice these things were, so with that in mind, she set off to find the closest one available.

She settled into the female side easily, not being able to bring herself to go in fully unclothed, even if she did just sink her entire body in, only letting her shoulder length red hair, skim the top of the water.

The warm water relaxed her muscles, though the spare time to think, only served to make her feel nauseous. She couldn't help but start to think that perhaps, she was beginning to relax into this lifestyle; Merlin forbid, she was actually somewhat liking it. Still though, seeing random black rings around people's necks was not a normal thing. It made her confused and uncomfortable.

So she did the only sane thing in order to distract herself, she started to listen in on the other ladies conversations going on about her. Due to the time of day, there was only a pair of older ladies, having a soak whilst chatting about their grandchildren. And two friends that looked a few years older than Willow, complaining about how self-conscious they felt in the Spring, but how glad they were that they convinced themselves to come in.

Willow couldn't exactly fault them for that, considering she was still halfway dressed. But she didn't see the point in removing clothes if she wasn't comfortable with it. Sometimes other girls' near her age were strange and useless creatures. Ignoring them again, and turning back to her problems, she allowed herself to sink further into the water, until just her nose hovered above the water.

Staying still for a few moments, she tried and failed to keep her mind quiet. She really wasn't used to this much time going past without being involved with some sort of fight. She was in the Voldemort debark until she was almost eighteen, and then almost instantly, she had gotten involved in the creature rights movement, which included so much fighting and arguing, that it might have been more difficult than the first. Maybe that's why she was seeing things like random black necks, she'd been sitting still for too long.

Maybe – "Eck! Someone's watching us! Pervert!"

Green eyes followed the sound of the yell, body tensing the second she heard the young girl's yell. Amazingly, one of the older ladies sprung up, with all the youth that had managed to escape her at the moment, and charged the fence, disappearing for a second, only to return holding a man with long white hair, and yelling about how disgusting he was for spying on them. Personally, Willow felt this old lady had spunk considering the white haired man, was wearing one of those ninja headbands that Naruto had.

Even if she'd dragged the man right into the woman's bathing area, and the two younger ladies were trying valiantly to cover all their body parts with the steaming water. Flushing when the older man's gaze drifted from his lecture and over to them. "Listen to me! Why my husband would take a piece out of an old leach like you!"

"Hey lady, I'm no leach," the man protested. "I'm the legendary Jiraiya of the Sannin! A world proclaimed, Super Pervert!"

Secretly, Willow felt that proclaiming to be a super pervert around this woman was not a good thing. Moments later, an abstract though hit her, which sent her sitting upright, the white of her bra starting to show. "Do you mean the author of Icha Icha, Jiraiya!?"

Almost like he hadn't noticed her before, his grinning face locked onto her awestruck one. The other females in the bath house froze, horror or it could be disgust, prevalent on their features. "That I am young lady!"

The old woman turned red in anger, and Willow, not even bothering to care about her state of undress, sprung up, ignored the old lady who looked like she was about to punch him in the face, and bowed her head towards him, smiling brightly. It was her favourite author in this strange land! "I'm a massive fan! Hey, I have one of the books in my bag over there, would you be interested in signing it for me, perhaps?!"

She could hear the old lady's jaw drop; and she could see the absolutely stunned expression on Jiraiya's face. "…You _like_ it?" he eyed her up and down, briefly lingering on certain parts of her body, though she simply ignored that.

He was her favourite author, somehow, it made that okay. Willow nodded her head enthusiastically, reaching out to grab his wrist and drag him away from the punch happy old lady. He didn't even seem to protest, nor did the other women. She did however stop briefly to grab a towel, and when she got to her bag, she slipped the black tee shirt over her head, scrounging around for her new unread book.

The white haired man, looked around the women's locker room curiously, and Willow wondered briefly if he should be in here. Deciding that he shouldn't be, and that she didn't care, she proudly showed him the blue little book. "Ah this gem!" he preened, taking the offered book from her hand, rummaging around with his free hand to pull a pen out of one of his pockets. "Not as popular as some of my others, but a nifty little one indeed!"

"It's the only one I haven't finished reading yet," Willow admitted freely, eyes intent on watching as he started to scrawl a short message on the front page. "My favourite by far, is Icha Icha Violence."

He nodded his head approvingly. "Who am I writing this one to, hm?"

Willow paused momentarily, before deciding that nicknames should be damned. "Willow, Potter Willow."

"Strange name, but for a beautiful girl," the man complimented, and Willow felt this should be inappropriate considering she wasn't wearing pants, but somehow, it just wasn't. "Say, Willow-chan, why don't you put on some pants and come with me for some lunch?" his grin widened. "You could help me with my new novel, and I might be able to even sign Icha Icha Violence for you."

Not even stopping to consider the idea for the briefest of moments, Willow was nodding her head as fast as she dared, almost tripping over herself to get to her bag, and pants. Huh, she mused wickedly, she'd never been one to fangirl over someone else. Normally, it was others over her. The ninja however, seemed to find her enthusiasm amusing.

* * *

Naruto POV

The Forest of Death

* * *

"I can't believe that we're stuck in here again," Naruto kicked the base of the tree they'd just walked past, grumpily. "This sucks."

"Do you think Kakashi-sensei made us stay in here the first time was because he knew that this would be on the test?" Hinata asked instead of dignifying his question with a response. Carefully avoiding hitting the roots of the tree like he had.

"No, I think Sensei is merely sadistic," Sasuke replied, his dark eyes already glaring at the trees like they hid some poisonous animal. Which more than likely, they did. The three of them sighed in unison again, before pushing forward. They travelled into the forest for a good few moments, before taking to the trees, and hiding themselves into one of the largest ones available.

"What's the plan?" Naruto asked slowly, as the three got comfortable on the rather large braches. "Wait for a team to come past and ambush them?"

"Good plan," Sasuke complimented, and Naruto wasn't ashamed to admit he preened just the slightest. "Anyone know any good Genjutsu? Hinata?"

Hinata shook her head, frown on her lips, and Sasuke cursed. "Of course, that'd be the easy way. Naruto, you should hide some of your clones a bit earlier on, that way, you can fight them, and tell us if they're strong, weak and how they fight."

Naruto grinned, twisting his fingers before spreading his clones out in multiple directions. Recon, he could do that. "Hinata," Sasuke said, eyes on the pale girl. "You keep an eye out around us and make sure no one's coming up to ambush _us." _

"What're you gonna do?" Naruto asked, curiously.

Sasuke shrugged. "I'm going to get the scroll, if I'll need help; I'll ask."

"I wanna do some fighting," he complained, and Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"You are, idiot. You fight them, and tell me how to fight them," he tried to explain, not that it made much sense to Naruto. "They'll know you're fighting style by the time they get here, but not _mine_. I need you here to bail me out if it doesn't work out well."

Then it hit Naruto. Sasuke trusted him to have his back, trusted Hinata to have his back. Really and truly, they were working together as part of a cohesive team. "Naruto! Sasuke!" Naruto heard Hinata scream before a gust of wind caught him by the stomach and blew him off the tree. Though, he did have the foresight enough to dig one of his kunai in his tree so that it couldn't fully blow him away from his team.

Though if he hadn't heard Hinata's sharp cry to start with… He didn't want to think about where he'd be. So as fast as he could, he barreled his way back to his team, only to come face to face with himself, and two very confused teammates.

Sasuke looked at Hinata slowly, eyebrow raised. The other Naruto grinned at him widely, and he knew it wasn't one of his many clones. "Guys, hey! This guy is pretending to be me. Totally uncool. We're gonna kick your arse!"

"No, you're pretending to be me!" Naruto claimed, offended that this guy thought he sounded like that. He sounded way cooler than that! Believe it!

Sasuke paused for the briefest of moments, before his eyes light up with a solution. "What's the red haired woman's name?"

"Kushina," the other guy responded the second Naruto replied with; "Genie-chan."

Who was _Kushina_? Sasuke lunged for the other guy's throat as soon as the word left his mouth. The other guy easily sidestepped Sasuke, his illusion dropping to reveal a tall looking lady with a straw hat. "Clever move using a question only you three know the answer to."

The lady slowly dragged a scroll out from behind her, rolling it in her fingers, the three Genin's eyes automatically drawn to it. "I suspect you'd want this? Why don't we… let's say, have a fight to death for it?"

"Y'know," Naruto started to back away slowly, after glancing at Hinata's terrified face. "I think we're gonna take a pass on that."

The creepy lady gave him this huge grin that took up over half of her face, her really long and disturbing tongue darting out of her mouth to lick around her lips. Her purplish coloured eyes bored into his until he started to feel uneasy, and he could see Sasuke starting to sway under the pressure of the stare. "That wouldn't be any _fun," _the ladies voice accented each syllable. "Oh, you look simply _petrified. _That means I must use this," his arm reached behind him to grab something from his weapons holster.

But with narrowed eyes, Naruto copied the movement, and the guy paused. "This won't do," she said, throwing cascade of kunai at him, that he could hardly see blur through the air. Naruto shut his eyes, just so he didn't have to see himself get killed; was this it?

"Earth Style: Mud Wall!" a feminine voice called out and Naruto's eyes snapped open to see a three feet wall of pure earth standing between them and the crazy lady with the scary eyes, and multiple knives.

Naruto glanced at Hinata for a second, and he could see her shaking, see how scared she was – but he could also see the set of her shoulders, the determined glint in her eyes. This lady maybe scary, but so were they. They could do this. They could fight, not separately, but together.

* * *

Willow POV

* * *

"-and that's why they interact so easily, and there's no fear in jumping in straight away."

"I just don't get it," Willow insisted for what felt like the fifth time. "You're main guy is so emotionally traumatized. I just don't see him even looking at any sort of girl, without cause, at _all_."

"It's the narrative! That and Suzu's innocence is appealing," he tried again. "Are you sure you've fully taken in Icha Icha Emotion? Maybe you need to re-read it."

Willow set her jaw huffily, apparently, getting over her awe of him enough to argue that some of his character development doesn't make any sense. "I understand it just fine. I just think you should've taken a less direct approach in getting them together. That guy's backstory is just _sad."_

Coming from Willow, with her own traumatic backstory, this was saying a lot. "It would have taken too long then," Jiraiya dismissed, eyeing her warily. "You're a bit of an odd woman, you know that?"

"You're telling me," another voice, that she recognized, though didn't think would appear in this situation, piped in. A silver haired ninja sliding into the seat next to Willow. She raised one of her fiery eyebrows, a look of confusion on her face. "Are you annoying Jiraiya-sama?"

"No," Willow muttered not so patently, annoyance more prevalent in her voice then before. "Go away Kakashi."

Jiraiya's eyebrow rose, his eyes flickering between the two of them, before smiling slowly. "Of course, only a _friend _of _Kakashi's_ would like Icha Icha_."_

"I don't like the emphasis you put on friend," Willow mumbled, eyebrow twitching. Ignoring the man putting a hand over his heart, pretending to be mock wounded. "You might mistake me for actually liking him."

"I'm offended."

"No you aren't."

"I _should_ be offended," he retaliated.

"But you _aren't_," she argued back, before huffing, rolling her eyes and changing the subject. "How's Naruto's exam going?"

Kakashi shrugged his shoulders, though she felt that he'd rolled his eye for the briefest of moments. He must think her obsessed with Naruto, she mused, considering that was all she ever asked him about now. "He passed the first exam by using a loophole in the rules to his benefit, but he's going to be in the second task of the exam for at least the rest of the week, maybe more – know knows."

Willow tried not to physically react to that. "How _is _that kid doing?"

"You know Naruto?" this time is was Willow to respond, eyes blinking, wondering why she'd never been told of him before. Jiraiya at least had the nerve to look sheepish.

"I know _of_ Naruto, kind of. He doesn't know me, per say," Jiraiya struggled, throwing Kakashi a pleading look but the man just shrugged his shoulders, causing Willow to frown at him. Why did he come over here, anyway? Kakashi was always the sort of person to only do things for a reason, granted, easy to manipulate. But he had his reasons for that too, she was sure.

So why'd he join the impromptu conversation. "How'd you know him then?" Willow pressed further. "Are like his Godfather or something."

She'd said the last bit as a joke, but when he flinched, she realized that she'd gotten it right. Right at that very moment, every single ounce of her admiration of him, was whipped away with her rather particular frown. "Where have you been all his life?"

"Ah, you know, I've had a tone of missions, and I've been writing Icha Icha…"

She couldn't stop how her eyes narrowed, or how her lips thinned. Or the way that she felt like she was bristling on the inside. "That sounds like a pretty pathetic excuse," she said, her voice dry, and a sardonic anger leaked into her voice. "He needed his Godfather. You think him growing up without parents was _easy_ on him? And you didn't have the good graces to have a proper excuse for not meeting him?"

"How'd _you_ know Naruto?"

"I'm the closest thing he has to r_eal _family," she said bitingly, almost way too happy with the way the man flinched. "The kid was so starved for parental guidance when I met him, that he'd latch onto anyone that would be willing to even give him a _little_ of that. You know, something _you _should have been giving _him_."

"Hey now," the white haired man protested, a frown on his face. Suddenly a hell of a lot more serious than he'd been for their entire conversation. She couldn't believe she'd stumbled across her favourite author, which just so happened to be Naruto's long lost Godfather. It was her damned Potter-style luck. "It's a lot more complicated than you're making it out to be. I _couldn't_ be with the brat."

"My parent's died when I was one," she said suddenly, cutting off any argument from either ninja. Not that she cared, she was livid that he thought he _couldn't _be there for Naruto. He never even _tried _to be there! "My godfather got framed and went to prison because of that," a partial truth really. "He broke out, went on the run from the Government, and _still_ managed to find the time to be there for me. Now, you tell me – you being in the same bloody town as Naruto, and you couldn't tell him?"

"I haven't been in the town…"

"You could have stopped off," she snapped. "If a _wanted felon_ can break into my school to meet me, I'm sure you could have stopped by Naruto's apartment to make sure he was okay."

"You have an interesting backstory, you know that?" 

"Don't change the subject," Willow said in warning, before her head snapped to Kakashi, eyes narrowed. This must have been why he stopped over, to see if she was giving him reports on Naruto's well being or something like that. "I can't believe your _disinterest_ in your own Godsons life."

"I never said I was disinterested in Naruto," he said, voice suddenly sharper and more forceful then before. But Willow wasn't cowering, she wasn't backing away from the challenge. She wouldn't be scared of a man who may be a trained Ninja, but pretty much neglected his care of Naruto for years. "You're putting words in my mouth."

"Actually, I'm vocalising what I've seen from Naruto," she said, voice on a dangerous edge. She honestly couldn't believe just how…how outraged she felt on Naruto's behalf. He'd had the family he'd always wanted, always wondered about. Just one that didn't _deserve _him. "You have _no idea_ what it was like when I met him. He was this little boy, so happy, but so lonely, so confused about how life worked, and why he had no family… He doesn't deserve _you_."

The look on his face, was almost as if she'd slapped him, and she kind of did – with her words and all. That didn't mean that she hadn't meant every word she'd uttered. She was… she was absolutely disgusted with this guy, someone she'd actually rather respected before now. "I take it that you're the one who's been taking care of him, then?"

"Yeah, because he _deserves _someone who _actually_ cares about him."

"Ma, Ma, Willow-chan," Kakashi attempted to sooth, though his voice sounded a tad too rough, and a tad too unbalanced to pull off his usual 'cool guy' attitude that he normally supported. "I think you need to calm down a little bit."

"And you knew too," her anger rounded on the other ninja at the table, eyes narrowed, and face filled with red blotches. "You've been teaching Naruto for how long and you didn't think he deserved to know that he had family left _alive_?"

"Ah, think about it for a second, Willow-chan," he chided, though she felt that there was a glimpse of real anger on his visible face before he smothered it. "What would've Naruto done if we'd told him, hm?"

Willow paused, he'd have either tried to find Jiraiya, or 'wished' that she bring him to them. "I think you need to calm down, right, consider this rationally. You're starting to draw people's attention."

Glancing around, she could still see people staring at the little group, and she frowned at them until they hurriedly looked away. Before settling to scowl at Kakashi. "Fine, you're excused. But hell, the kid doesn't even know who his parents are. You couldn't have even told him their _names_?!"

"Now that," Jiraiya cut in, voice still annoyingly placid. "Is a conversation best had far, far away from here."

Willow frowned in annoyance, rather dissatisfied with the response she was being given. This, this was pathetic. Naruto… Poor Naruto, he really and truly, didn't deserve this sort of treatment. This sort of care. Though, she mused, at least he was regarding her semi-seriously.


	13. Chapter 13

**Ain't Never Had a Friend Like Me**

**Chapter 13: Snakes and Breeding Distrust**

A/N,

Hey guys, how are you all today? I was kind of surprised to see how many of you responded to my question. There was a line in the Hokage's perspective bit that kind of alluded to the answer to that question. But have no fear! It becomes very obvious very early on in this chapter!

New Question: Is there anything you guys want to see happen in this fic? It could just be random ideas for scenes, or some sort of interaction that you want to see. I'm trying to think of new things, but I'm having difficulty. If you do, I'll be sure to credit you with the idea at the top of the chapter!

Long as Authors note today, huh? I hope you guys enjoy reading! Xox

Right, so any other authors know what to do when you're not able to reply to your reviews? It kept saying 'review not available', and such.

Though I can say congrats to the one reviewer who guessed the black rings were a Zombie Loan reference. And for Gadman85 for the epically long review, and correctly guessing what the black rings actually were! You guys all rock!

And for reference, I actually have read watermelonsmellinfellons's take on the prompt, and I love it. It's amazing, and I highly recommend everyone go and read it!

Another point, cause I seem to keep editing these in. In reply to my atrocious spelling and grammar, that I quite honestly, don't even notice myself doing, but I know it's there. It's been recommended more times than I can even count: I will be looking for one, or _more_ Beta Readers. If you think that you'd do a good job, leave us a PM and we can discuss it!

* * *

Willow POV

* * *

"I'm not sure I fully understand this," Willow admitted finally, looking down at the well-worn image of a man in his early twenties, his bright blue eyes, despite the aged nature of the picture – shone out to her, hope prevalent in their irises. "Are you telling me, that Naruto's father was the ruler of this village – the man in this picture, who is dead, and sealed a demon inside his son?"

"Essentially, yes," Jiraiya responded slowly. His expression was half guarded, and half incredulous. "As I said, he had no other options. Without the protection that having Minato as a father would have, we had to conceal that from him."

"Then why are you telling me this now?" Willow asked frowning, she placed the image of the sunny blonde down, eyes flickering between the old man in front of her, and Kakashi who was leaning against the wall behind him. The other man, wouldn't hold her gaze though, instead preferring to stare at the ground. "I don't know you. How do _you_ know I can be trusted?"

"We _don't_ trust you."

Willow sat back, and tried not to let the words affect her as much as they had. Honestly, she should be used to that statement by now. Had anyone honestly ever trusted her? Truly? "What are you going to do to me now that I know the truth? Put me in a prison? It's seems rather pointless to tell me then."

The man paused, almost like he was considering the option. "I wouldn't have told you if that was my _only_ intention," the white haired man explained after a brief pause. "I don't make a habit about telling my enemies about classified information."

The redhead sighed, starting to get a bit aggravated by the blasé way they were interacting. Yes, she'd been told the name of Naruto's parents. Yes, she had a better understanding of what had occurred here in the past. And yes, she fully understood the fact that she'd been privy to information that most people normally weren't. What she did want to know however, was _why_.

"You see Willow-chan, we've been trying to figure out a lot about you. You're a bit of an enigma," Jiraiya admitted, leaning back in his chair. Leaving the only woman to feel a bit on edge, this, this was how this mess started. Someone not understanding her, an attack, and being locked in a god-damned bottle.

She wondered briefly how they'd react when they realised that she couldn't actually die. "Hokage-sama decided a few days ago that since the twelve background checks issued over you came back empty, that I, being a Spy Master, would be able to figure you out."

She'd quite honestly, walked right into this situation. Then again, had there ever been a time in her life when she didn't walk right into terrible situations? "That still doesn't explain you telling me about Naruto's parents," Willow pointed out, trying her hardest to sound as accusing and rude as possible.

Jiraiya shrugged his shoulders, allowing them to fall back into his easy, carefree position that he'd been in before. "It was a test," he responded cheerfully. "I wanted to know if you purposefully targeted Naruto because of his parents. Kakashi's already vouched for you on the whole having a demon sealed in him thing."

Green eyes flickered back over to the man slouched against the wall, he seemed uninterested in the proceeding, but the fact he was here said a lot. Was he attempting to…help her? The bastard. "Look, I know I'm not from Konoha, but honestly. Me stumbling across Naruto was the biggest quirk of fate that has ever happened," the witch tried to explain, though she felt it was a hopeless case.

Honestly, she needed to know how things progressed from here. Was this an interrogation? With Kakashi, the lazy pervert and the author of Icha Icha, Jiraiya? What kind of interrogations did they run here? Granted, not everyone had access to truth telling potions. "That's not it, really. It's the fact that there is no evidence of you coming here at all. It's like one day, you just turned up in the middle of Naruto's apartment."

Laughter threatened to bubble up through her throat, because yes, he was completely right. He had no idea how truthful the sentence he just uttered even was. Willow tried to smother the laughter, tried to force it down. But judging by the author's expression, some of her mirth must have shown on her face. "Are you interrogating me?" she asked, fighting hard to keep the amusement out of her voice.

Jiraiya frowned, "Yes, and I suggest that we start getting answers before we're forced to hand you over to the actual professionals."

Willow leaned back, so that the arch of her back was flush against the chair behind her. Logically she knew that this was going to happen. That didn't stop her from being annoyed over it, however. That, and she didn't think the 'if I told you, I'd have to kill you' line would work out here.

Merlin damn it, she was in a bit of a jam. "You wouldn't believe me even if I told you."

"There is a certain clan in Konoha, who have the ability to read people's minds. We _really_ don't want to find that necessary."

This is what she got for just assuming nothing would happen if she didn't actively do much. Though, if it hadn't been Naruto who had released her, she was sure that none of this would have happened. Still, she would have wanted no one else to let her go free.

Oh to hell with it, she mused. It wasn't like she was good at making believable cover stories to begin with. "Naruto often refers to me as 'Genie'. Not because it's a 'cute' nickname like I told you, Kakashi," she directed at the man, who had a confused look in his eye. "But because I'm actually a Genie and Naruto's my master."

There was a beat of silence. The redhead tried not to laugh at the awestricken faces in front of her. They weren't going to believe that. She couldn't help it, as soon as Kakashi quirked his oddly sculpted eyebrow at her – she started to cackle.

* * *

**Naruto POV**

**Forest of Death**

* * *

Naruto stared down the lady with the creepy eyes, and crazily long tongue; Hinata's wall now a thing of the past, as it deteriorated under the pressure of the chakra enhanced kunai. Though none of them had managed to reach them, instead, having fallen helplessly to the ground around the three Genin. This, at least, had seemed to snap Sasuke out of the daze that he'd been in.

"A Hyuga, is it?" the lady grinned, her tongue flickering out, like a snake about to bite its prey. "My, my, what an _interesting_ team we have here."

"Give us the scroll crazy Snake Lady," Naruto snapped, ignoring the way her words lingered around his ears, teasing him, mocking him. Goading him into charging forward blindly. He couldn't, he needed to focus. "There's three of us and only one of you."

"That _is _true. But that's three of you, and one of _me."_

"That's what I just said," Naruto said, annoyed with the way she just repeated his words. "You're pretty stupid Crazy-Tongue-Lady."

"What… _imaginative _nicknames you seem to have," she said, voice littered out lowly, her hand twisting into a hand sign that Naruto couldn't imminently understand. "A pity, that you are simply in my way – Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Naruto tried not to swear when a big, green snake burst out of the lady's hands, and made a beeline right for him. "Doton: Ganchuusou!" Hinata's voice broke through Naruto's despite haste to retreat from the group. Dang it, Hinata had saved him a second time! Underneath him, the earth twisted into sharp pointy objects that pierced though the moving animal. No! He wasn't that useless! He didn't need Hinata to constantly save him!

Naruto frowned when the snake disappeared again, in a puff of smoke. The crazy lady licked her lips again. "My my, I wasn't aware that the Hyuga Heiress had such _skills. _I might have to take you first. A fine addition as well… Hm." The grin that twisted on her face was truly something that sent a jolt of terror though Naruto's entire body.

He stepped backwards once, twice, and then stumbled by the time he reached the third. This… this lady… Risking a glance over at Sasuke, he could see a similar expression on the pale boy's face. It was a look that understood just how crazily outclassed they were. "You can take the scroll," Sasuke finally rasped out, though his voice came out rather feebly, like he couldn't believe exactly what he was saying.

Naruto could believe those words either, and yet, he felt strangely torn about them. The crazy snake lady just laughed, and then began to coo; "little boy, knows when he's outclassed~. It' not the scroll I want, though."

The woman shot forward so fast that she blurred in Naruto's eyesight. She was moving so fast in fact, that Naruto didn't even notice that she had punched him in the stomach, till ten seconds afterwards. The force of the hit sent him flying until he hit a tree behind him. The feeling of bark digging into the warm fabric of his jacket was uncomfortable enough. Not to be deterred however, he managed to avoid falling by quickly channeling chakra onto his feet and sticking to the tree trunk.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he said, not even stopping for a second to think about what plan he was making. The small army of Naruto clones surged forward, jumping around his teammates, enclosing them, and forming a barrier between team seven and the snake lady.

"What a number of Shadow Clones, quite impressive, but what happens if I…"

The Naruto clones didn't allow her the chance to finish her sentence, instead all of them in the row formed four different handseals, slamming their palms into the ground in unison, crying; "Doton: Ganchuusou no Jutsu!"

The multitude of spikes, erupted from the ground one after the other, each one growing on the first, until there wasn't much in front of them but a battlefield of spikes. The crazy lady, looked like she'd been impaled by at least thirteen of them, before Naruto's clones disappeared in a puff of smoke, the chakra draining being too much for them.

Naruto let the chakra on the bottom of his foot go, and fell as gracefully as he could on the ground by the base of the tree. "You don't think that was overkill—Get out of the way!"

It happened in mere seconds, first it was Sasuke's sardonic words, then the crazy lady deteriorated into a heap of rocks – then Sasuke, he was pushing him away, until his back hit the tree. With wide eyes, he witnessed the blow to Sasuke's head that sent him flying, what would've been meters away before the crazy ladies arm shot out to grab him.

"Sasuke!" Naruto had shouted, half horrified, half in awe of how fast, and how efficient that lady had avoided one of his smarter moves. Sasuke grunted, and tried to pull his arm away from the crazy lady, he blinked for a second, and then next, Sasuke had these crazy bright red eyes, and a hand flying forward with full force hitting the lady where she held him, and throwing himself away until he too, hit a tree.

Wincing, Sasuke stood up again, bright red eyes narrowed. The bastard had… had saved his life? "The Sharingan… its more beautiful in person than I ever could have imagined."

Creep. Naruto shivered at the tone of voice the lady had said that in, it was… disgusting. That, and Naruto didn't really know what to do now… "Though, this team, you are all rather better than I'd anticipated. Dare I say it, you should all have a go at me… Doton: Kage Bunshin!"

Was that? A different way to do clones, just with the earth instead? Naruto however, didn't have the time to contemplate, because three versions of the crazy lady had split from the Jutsu, and one of them headed for each of them. Naruto frowned, no! She was trying to split them up! They worked better as a - damn! Naruto rather hastily ducked under a few blows from the clone, before making the hand signs to make a few of his own.

With two other versions of himself, Naruto engaged the clone feeling much more confident. One clone swung, and the other clone dodged. Naruto took a deep breath, and wishing for once, he knew more offensive Jutsu. He only knew the earth spikes one Hinata taught him. But hell, he had kunai, and he damn well knew how to use them.

So while the clone was distracted with his clones, Naruto used those openings to throw kunai at him. He wasn't even sure how the crazy lady clone managed to avoid his throws, and kill his clones at the same time however. Not very deterred, Naruto simply made another four clones, and dove back in, this time, he mixed himself in. He wasn't giving snake lady clone another chance to avoid his attacks.

After a brief struggle which included a lot of blows, and Naruto starting to feel rather worn down, he managed to hit the clone enough for it to disperse. Finally. Naruto turned quickly to figure out which of his teammates needed his help more.

Naruto was rather distressed to realise that Hinata and Sasuke both looked like they needed his help. Hesitating slightly, he moved towards Sasuke, he was fighting the clone and the real crazy snake lady. With a running jump, Naruto aimed a round house kick to one of their heads, only to get his foot snatched out of the air, and thrown across the field.

Naruto crashed into another tree, a spasm of pain flaring up his back. Wincing, Naruto struggled to stand again, a frown on his face, and his fingers twisted back into a nearly familiar hand sign. With another two of him, Naruto charged again, this time one of the clones broke off from Sasuke to face off with him.

"While this has been fun, this is taking much too long," the crazy snake lady facing off Sasuke hummed, the second Naruto ducked under a kunai flying in his direction. "I think they've noticed my presence now."

"Who are you?" Sasuke hissed, red eyes narrowed, but Naruto didn't really have the time to focus on Sasuke's conversation. Only having the presence enough to hear the name, 'Orochimaru.'

In a blurred, and misdirected gaze, Naruto caught sight of this Orochimaru leaning towards Sasuke's neck and … biting down!? Sasuke fell to his knees, hands grasping at his neck before he started to scream. Naruto faltered in his step, allowing the clone to hit him in his stomach, sending him flying right back into the tree, coughing with the pain of re-hitting an already sore injury.

Naruto tried to gather his strength to stand up again, but his muscles protested, and much to his horror, he witnessed Orochimaru loom back over Hinata, pushing her back before taking a bite out of her neck as well. Hinata, responded much like Sasuke had, by falling to her knees and clutching her neck in pain, her cries were enough to send a jolt to Naruto's stomach.

Without any clones, and without a scratch on her, Naruto realised with a jolt, Orochimaru turned to look at him, wide grin on his face, tongue dangling happily from his mouth. What he said next, was not something Naruto was willing to ever forget. "You're lucky, Uzumaki. These two will seek me out. Power is like a drug, and those who get a taste of what it's like, will always crave more. The Kyubi makes it impossible to give you the same gift as I've given them, but you hold something too. You, Uzumaki, are as welcome as the Uchiha and the Hyuga. Underneath me, your power will grow and soar into planes you can't even _begin_ to comprehend."

With that, Orochimaru left, a crazy laugh echoing out from behind him. Sasuke and Hinata fell silent at the loss of the man, they're bodies still, eyes closed, and pain evident on their faces. With a grimace, Naruto forced himself to stand up on shaky legs and make another two clones, which took a bit more effort than he was really happy about using.

Naruto shivered, the words of that madman echoing around his mind. What had he done to Hinata and Sasuke? And why did he having that demon sealed inside of him protect him from that? "You grab Sasuke, you grab Hinata," he said towards his clones, sounding way more put together than he'd intended. "We need to move."

* * *

Willow POV

* * *

There were many things that Willow Potter had expected to happen when she claimed to be a Genie, and this, well, this had to be the best reaction she could have hoped for. Sure, they thought she was clinically insane, but, sitting in a room with the leader of the village and a mind reader might actually help her out in the long run.

Granted, she was starting to get a little bit anxious because of the way that Kakashi was crossing his arms, and glaring at her from his spot leaning against the wall. Sure, Jiraiya was scribbling down notes on the proceeding as fast as he could – she was certain that this was going to end up in one of his books somehow. Though, there really couldn't have been a better way for this to happen.

And sure, she was starting to feel the tingling of pain in her back, a burning sort of feeling, which she'd come to associate with what she called 'Lamp Pain', but that hardly mattered at the moment. She needed to trust Naruto, and so what? He'd gotten a bit far away. It wasn't like she had the time right now to analyse the fact that this pain was different than the other pain that she'd felt last time that Naruto had gone away.

The blonde haired mind reader then took the silence as an opportunity to clear his throat and look at the Hokage nervously. "Potta Willoo?" the man started, forcing her not to flinch with the horrible way he was butchering her name. "Are you aware of why you're here?"

"It's Pott-_er_, Will-_ow_," she replied helpfully instead of a response.

"Right, my apologies. Pott-er, Will-ow," he repeated on what could have passed off as broken English. Willow had to force herself not to roll her eyes, Kakashi and even Jiraiya hadn't stumbled over her very English name. It wasn't that hard, was it? "Will you answer the question, please?"

"Do you normally have so many people in interrogation rooms?" Willow asked curiously. She tried to ignore the sounds of Kakashi's head hitting a wall somewhere behind her, and Jiraiya groaning from his position in his seat. She was, defiantly, being somewhat difficult. "I mean, I'm not one to judge but information spills so easily."

"You are aware, Pott-er-san, that you are locked in here. And at _our_ mercy."

She paused momentarily, switching from looking at her blonde would-be interrogator to the Hokage. He was aged, and somewhat reminded her of a more stern version of Dumbledore. What concerned her majority however, was the faint lines of a black band staring to form around his neck. Honestly, what did that mean? His band was different to the others – it was only dark grey, and only an outline. Like it hadn't been decided if his neck should be branded or not, but had begun to form anyway.

Willow sighed, leaning back in her chair, allowing her feet to swing only slightly in a move to calm herself. This was a very important, and no matter how light-hearted she was playing it, a very dangerous situation that she'd found herself in. It was also a sign that she was comfortable, even though they were threatening her life. She was somewhat scared of course, but for the majority, she was relaxed in the idea that she wouldn't die. "Just look through my memories," she said, deliberate trying to sound bored and tired. "It's not like you're going to believe me anyway. I have nothing to hide."

"We'd prefer not to go to that level, Pott-er-san," the blonde tried, his eyebrow raising as he sent a questioning look over at Jiraiya. "From the low levels of chakra that I sense from you, it would be extremely dangerous for me to enter your mind. You don't have the strength to withhold my presence."

"That's because I don't have chakra," she tried. "I have this thing called magic. It's a genie thing. We have something like that mind reading thing you do," Willow paused to take in the way the blonde leaned in, somewhat interested, but mainly sceptical. "I can't really do it. It's very difficult."

The Hokage and the blonde both gave each other a glance. The Hokage however, seemed blank, and the blonde, appeared to be extremely sceptical. He obviously didn't want to be doing this right now. "Then why hide?" the blonde said, biting at her words. Which had, actually surprised her. "Why not immediately tell us?"

"Why would I bother?" she asked rhetorically. "I was summoned to a strange land with ninja, and this chakra thing. I had no idea how your politics worked, or even your strange food. I didn't even know what a _Hokage_ was. That and I still don't fully understand these suffixes you attach to people's names. Why would I walk up to someone and say; 'hey, I'm a genie summoned by a twelve year old. I'm going to do everything he tells me to'."

"You are aware…"

"Of how stupid this all sounds?" she finished the sentence dryly. "Of course I am. That's why I told you to read my mind. It'll make so much more sense then."

"Hokage-sama?"

"Let's set the room up, with precautions for Potter-san's lack of chakra," The Hokage said briskly. He didn't look like he believed her, but he seemed to quickly realise that the easiest way to dispel the story she was telling, was to go through her mind. "Jiraiya, I need you to go make sure the exam is still running smoothly. If it is, you need to take the Hokage's declaration at the end of the second portion of the exam."

"Of course, Sensei," the author said, nodding his head, and snapping his book shut. "Although what do I say again?"

"Make it up," the Hokage advised, and Willow imagined that there was some wise-ness in his words. "Kakashi, you need to be there for your team. See if they pass. Inochi and I will foresee the rest of this interrogation."

The Hatake hesitated for the briefest of moments, so fast, that she could hardly notice the way his body recoiled. Though granted, she did, but it was only because she'd been staring right at him. "Of course, Hokage-sama," he said seconds after the brief amount of hesitation. He sounded so sure, and so put together, that she swore she was making up his hesitation.

* * *

Naruto POV

* * *

Hauling Hinata and Sasuke around was so much easier with the use of his Shadow Clones. One for each of them, though with the way they were cringing and trashing around, he was sure he would drop them soon. What did he do? With two of his teammate's unconscious, he couldn't really do much!

That crazy snake lady was insane. She was so strong! And he really, really wanted to know what she did to his teammates. Naruto directed his clones to hide his two teammates in the top of one of the bigger trees. It was a place they'd found when they'd been trapped in there by Kakashi-sensei. Though now, all he needed to do was decide what he should do! And figure out what he meant with the power thing.

If a team attacked, Naruto was sure he'd be able to beat them down, but what if that meant leaving his two unconscious teammates to suffer? What if the crazy snake lady came back!? Naruto groaned, and sat back, feet crossed and his head in his hands. He needed help! He needed someone he could trust! He needed nee-chan…

She couldn't help him now. Even if he were to make a wish, she wouldn't hear it, she wasn't here. He needed to do this on his own, he needed… Buns-chan! Bushy Brows! Neji-teme! Their chakra signature was faint, but there was no mistaking Neji-teme's chakra, which was as different and distinctive as Hinata's!

It had to be their strange eye-jutsu thing. With a quick glance at his two clones, the three Naruto's and the other unconscious members of team seven, ran off, using the trees as leverage. Before Naruto even knew it, he'd passed through a bunch of trees. And found himself in the patch of berries that made your stomach go funny if you ate them.

"We need _nourishment_ Lee," he could hear Neji-teme saying. "And you let both of the rabbits we caught go."

"It's not youthful to kill something that isn't armed!" Lee complained, and without even seeing him, Naruto could already see the fight burning beneath his eyes. His fist clenched, eye wide and shining with untameable youth, the blinding white teeth…

"Those might not be safe Neji…" Buns-chan added on, though she did sound hesitant, and more importantly – it was hungry Buns-chan tone. "Though I am hungry…"

That of course, was when Naruto jumped down from his tree, right in the middle of the three Genin. His other two clones, lagging behind slightly due to their heavy loads. "Hey! Don't eat that teme! They make your stomach go strange."

"Naruto!" Buns-chan said, voice bright, and happier than she had sounded moments ago. Her arms flying around him, and pulling him in for a hug. Bushy Brows stood next to her, an identical grin of happiness plastered over his face. Neji however, merely groaned, letting the berries fall from his palm and onto the floor. Naruto tried not to wince at the way that Buns-chan's tight gripped rubbed against his injured back.

"Uzumaki, what do you want?"

"Oh right! I totally need your help, cause' we're like team mates already, so we should totally team up!" Naruto said animatedly, momentarily forgetting his pain, as his clones dragged his other two team members into the clearing. "We were attacked by a crazy snake lady, and she bit Hinata-chan and Sasuke. Now they have this strange symbol on their necks and they're not waking up!"

"Put them down over here, Naruto," Buns-chan said, worried, motioning to the portion of their little clearing that was covered by a mossy tree.

One of the Naruto clones shook their head. "Na, that stuff makes your skin itchy if you touch it." Like a phantom, Naruto felt the itch forming over his left hand again. How was he meant to know that even the leaves wanted to hurt him? Buns-chan looked surprised, but redirected his team mates over to another coverage before moving Hinata's hair to get a better look at the injury.

"We will help your team mates gain their youthful health back! And then band together in our quest for scrolls!" Bushy Brows declared, grin on his face, his teeth shining white, and a fist pumping into the air.

"No, we won't," Neji interjected heatedly. "This is a competition. We should take _their _scroll."

"Neji-kun, that isn't very youthful!" Lee admonished.

"We're in a death day arena!"

"Which is why having Naruto around to tell us when something isn't safe is a good thing. Or weren't you about to eat those berries, Neji-kun?" Buns-chan interrupted, though her gaze never left the necks of his team. Instead cleaning the wounds with water, and binding them with spare bandages.

"They could _still_ be harmless," the Hyuga insisted, though he didn't look very inclined to touch the berries again. His eyes narrowed at Naruto before he huffed. "Fine. We'll help."

"Excellent! Well then Naruto-kun! We have managed to acquire two earth scrolls! What do you have?"

"We have a Heaven scroll," he said, slowly, only mourning the loss of the Earth Scroll Orochimaru had for a second. "That's it."

"Then we will give you one of our earth scrolls! We don't need it! And you can help us get another Heaven one!" Lee claimed, bouncing in his step – grin plastered over his face, teeth gleaming. "Then we can all travel back to the tower together!"

Neji moved faster than Naruto had expected him to, his hand coming to a rest on Lee's shoulder. The grip looked like it would've hurt under normal circumstances. But Lee's strength and pain tolerance was not a normal thing, and Naruto would know – they were sparing partners after all. "Lee. There is something we need to acquire first."

Naruto grinned, for once, knowing exactly what to do. "Food," Naruto guessed, jumping on the balls of his feet. "You guys need food right? There's a spot about… eh, a little bit that way, it's next to a river, and the waters pretty good. Plus, they had tonnes of non-poisonous animals! Like rabbits! Not the chipmunks though, they're more poisonous than the snakes are."

Lee gave him a crestfallen look, which he didn't fully understand. Neji looked somewhat triumphant. "We really shouldn't be moving Sasuke-kun or Hinata-chan right now. Neji, Naruto, you two should go and collect what we need. Lee and I will stay here and protect them."

Leave Hinata-chan and Sasuke-teme here? Without him? Of course he trusted Buns-chan and Bushy Brows… but still… to leave his team behind? They'd… they'd be safe though. And they'd be back super quickly! And he'd leave a Shadow Clone! Yeah! Then he'd know if they needed to come back quickly! 

"We'll be back super-fast, believe it! I'll leave a Kage Bunshin as well! So that way I can be here just in case!"

Naruto looked at Neji who seemed rather exasperated with the whole ordeal already.

* * *

Willow POV

* * *

Interrogations were tricky things. Though Willow for one, knew that this interrogation wasn't going the way she planned for it to. A few hours after her initial imprisonment, she was hauled right into another room where Inochi (the blonde guy), and the Hokage sat waiting.

As soon as she entered the room, the blonde smiled warmly at her and usurer her into the seat directly across from him. It was then, that Willow momentarily considered just wiping both of their memories. That… was an idea. No, she couldn't do that. She had been busted and this was the easiest, and least violent way of going about it.

Willow wondered what had actually happened for the Hokage to go to these lengths to see who was having such an influence on Naruto's life. She wasn't surprised however, because she was sure, if she had decided to shake Draco Malfoy's hand when starting Hogwarts – Dumbledore would've had something to say about it. Maybe not, he was all about the seeing the best in people.

"Before we begin, Potter-san," the Hokage began, his eyes boring into the sides of her face. "I want you to be honest with us. Tell us your story, spare us no details, and Inochi will simply confirm what you've told us in your mind."

Willow gave the Hokage a long searching look, really, she could see Dumbledore in this man. "My name is Potter Willow, I'm around twenty one-ish years old. I'm from a different dimension where things like genie's and vampires, and werewolves are all very real, and very dangerous creatures."

The pair said nothing but from what she'd said, she didn't expect them to believe her. She would tell them the truth, well, parts of the truth, mixed with a few lies. Like the whole genie thing. It'd be stupid to give that up now. "I went to Genie School, from the age eleven to the age seventeen. There was a civil war between my kind in that time and because of my efforts during that, my lamp got thrown into a dimension portal. Landed here, Naruto freed me. You know the mythology, surely?"

Pretty much what she'd told Naruto anyway. The pair exchanged glances, and from what she could gather, they both had similar expressions that said; 'do you honestly expect me to believe that?' "No, I don't expect you to take my word for it," she answered the unspoken question. "I expect you to read my mind for it."

The Hokage gave her a long, searching look, before frowning. The line around his neck, seemed to grow fainter after he nodded his head, disappearing into a dotted line, and the inside fading back into a normal skin colour. The hell was this all about? Instead of staring at the man's neck with growing interest, she managed to tear her eyes back to the blonde, and spared enough time to arch an eyebrow. "Is there anything you would like to know before we start this, Pott_er_-san?" Inochi asked slowly.

"Nothing that doesn't concern why Naruto knows nothing about his family," the snarky comment, she really hadn't intended to say. But the reaction she got from the Hokage, his tight-lipped disapproval, was good enough for her.

"Then we shall begin. Once I'm in your mind, I'll explain how this works."

Willow nodded, they're eyes making contact, and really – Inochi had the brightest baby blue eyes, and moments before her eyes lost focus, she was strongly reminded of Glidory Lockheart.

With the world around her blurring out, her vision started to return to her, the serious face of the blonde guy haunting her every movement. Blinking twice she righted herself enough to realise that he was simply standing in front of her. The room she had found them in however, was bare, chains decorating the walls, like they were chained in, trapped in the room – that was obviously her mind.

"This is how it works, I'm going to say a phrase, a word. And unconsciously, your mind will bring up the strongest memory you have that correlates with what I'm saying. If you start feeling drained, or have any blurry vision, tell me, and we'll imminently withdraw. Are you ready to proceed?"

Willow nodded her head, though she wanted to protest not being able to select the memories he played. "Meeting Uzumaki Naruto."

She should have known it'd start like this. Colours swirled around her head, and blended until she was again, standing with the blonde guy, peering out into Naruto's apartment. Willow almost winced – she'd forgotten how dirty it was. Quite clearly she could see Naruto waving around that cursed lamp wildly, and she could see the confusion on her face, the way her eyes narrowed at the lamp. And the unsure way she was regarding the excited boy.

It was really different to have an objective view on her own memory. _"So, you're like a genie?" _she could hear the distorted words of Naruto crow. She saw her shocked expression, and the way her lips unhappily twisted to mouth the word, "ah."

"So do I get three wishes?" the blonde boy shook the lamp. This, was extremely strange, Willow mused. She had a lot more facial expressions than she thought she did. Why didn't anyone ever tell her? "Yes," past-Willow started, still looking unsure, glancing around the apartment slowly. "I can't grant eternal life, or riches. I can't produce food or alter your body in any way."

"You can't make me a ninja, can you?" the boy asked, before the memory twisted together, sizzling out like a candle that had been left burning for too long.

She was trust back into the chained room, and faced with Inochi's surprise. "Alright. Genie Lamp." The world before her, switched up again, this time swirling and changing, much to Willow's horror. What would this show!?

The next memory was dark, she couldn't see anything but the memory had feeling. The feelings of darkness, enclosed. It was like she was in a black box with the sides enclosing in on her, darkness, smaller. Panic, the memory stung of panic, no sight no nothing. Fast, but not fast enough, the feelings began to deteriorate and it fade back into the chained room.

Inochi seemed pale, and considering this was only an imprint of his mind, this said a lot. He seemed shaky, and honestly, he looked like he wanted to ask her exactly what that was but thought better of himself. "Magic." The world once again righted itself, except this time, Hogwarts in all its glory formed in front of their eyes.

Willow couldn't help but smile when she saw Inochi awestricken face at the sight of Hogwarts. The sounds of laughter was ringing in her ears, and a much younger Willow Potter ran in front of her, before slowing down, panting for breath, happiness shining in her eyes. Oh wow, her hair had been so long, just past her hip, so shiny. Young-Willow turned around, smirk on her lips saying; "If I can take on a _Dragon_ Thomas, what makes you think you can beat me?"

The image of Dean Thomas loomed on the side of the memory, grin on his face, and wand in his hand. Before she knew it, she had antlers growing from her head, and butterflies flying across her new vision. From this angle, she really could see that Dean had liked her a whole lot more than she'd originally thought. This, this had been so long ago! "Thomas!" past-Willow screeched, grabbing the antler on the top of her head. "I'm going to kill you!" the redhead lunged forward, hands aiming for his throat.

The memory disbanded once more, much to Willow's disappointment, and reformed back into the chained room. "How are you feeling?" the man asked, once the chained walls completely righted themselves. Willow paused and assessed her current feelings.

"I'm fine," she replied. "Do you need much more?" 

"Not much, I don't think you're lying. I just want to know – you're part in that civil war."

Not that! What was going to – the image spun around a mixture of bright and dark colours swirled around in front of her eyes. Then bright colours, and pastel colours. It was like her mind couldn't settle on a single memory, until the image of Dumbledore's office come into view. Though it wasn't the office she remembered so clearly. Objects had been thrown around, books were strewn across the floor – and there were a number of knickknacks that had been heartlessly placed along the room.

Behind the large desk however, sat Professor Dumbledore, face calm and hands rested gently on his desk. He wasn't flinching or reacting to the destruction in the slightest. On the other hand, amongst all the wreckage, a younger Willow stood, hands curled around a curious object, eyes wide with anger – and face red, and blotchy.

"Are you quite calm yet, Willow?" The Professor asked, voice calm, looking perfectly reasonable. Willow watched her past self as she curled her fingers tighter around the object he was holding, until quite suddenly, she hurled it at the Past-Headmasters head. She of course, with her terrible aim, missed. "How about now?"

"You can go screw yourself," past-Willow spat. Glancing over at Inochi, she could see the startled and confused look plastered on his face. Dumbledore was frowning, and from this side, with less anger, she could see how upset those words had made him.

"Now Willow, Sirius is gone," he said sternly. "I understand that you're upset. But you need to think about this rationally – the Prophecy…"

"No," past-Willow snapped, hand itching about, like she was contemplating grabbing another object to throw at Dumbledore's head. "No. I don't want any part in this war. I don't want to be 'The Chosen One' and I'm not anyone's saviour. I couldn't even save what left of family I have. Fight your own war."

The last words were biting, and now Willow could notice the fact that she'd honestly looked as pathetic as a weak kitten. She couldn't have handled this news back then. Dumbledore sighed. "My girl, if you don't fight, there will be many more lost. Not just your godfather. Would condemn them as well?"

"I'm fifteen," Willow hissed. "I can't lead anything!"

The memory, which had last longer than any other memory previously faded back into the room with the chains. There was a beat of silence. "I think we have enough. I'm going to withdraw from your mind, be careful though. Brace yourself, this won't be easy."

Willow nodded her head, wondering what he'd take from what he saw. Closing her eyes, and enduring this stinging feeling for a few moments, Willow reopened her eyes to the stares of the blonde and the Hokage, the later looking quite impatient.

Inochi made eye contact with her briefly, before asking quite bluntly: "did you end up fighting in that war?"

After a brief pause, which was due to her watching the Hokage's once black now grey band, she blinked. "Yes, I did. I ended the war as well. Do you believe me now?"

"It seems impossible," the man admitted, slowly, turning his head to face his leader. "All evidence I've found, point to Pott-er-san being what she claims she is," he paused momentarily, eyes flickering over to Willow. "Though, as a major military asset that you were in your past 'dimension', I can't in good conscious simply let that slide."

Fuck. The Hokage nodded his head slowly, eyes narrowed. "What was your role in this war, Potter-san? Do not be brief with me."

Honestly, she had thought this would have been over with the whole mind reading thing. Of course, they believed she was a god-damned genie, but, had a problem over freaking Voldemort. Willow bit her lower lip softly, before sighing. "There are certain people back home, which see the future, again, I can't. But take them very seriously. When I was a year old, there was a Dark Lord that killed people indiscreetly for what he saw was impure blood. There was a Prophecy, that claimed only one person would be able to kill him. I was that person."

She stopped and hoped that they would take that and go. "Impure blood?" Inochi asked, eyes bright and curious.

"There are those like you, we call you muggles," she paused for a second, because it didn't seem right, these people were far from muggles. "Who manage to inherit magic. And they had no trace of family background. There are those who are born from two genie's and those are pure. Lastly, we have those who only have one parent who is a pure blood, and another who isn't, they are half."

"Are your abilities affected in the slightest by your blood?"

"No," Willow said quickly. "I'm a half-blood."

The Hokage nodded, and with each nod the line around his neck grew even fainter, until it was nothing but a mere shadow. "What happened after you were chosen?"

"I grew, and when I turned sixteen, he won," she responded blandly. "He took over, and started executing those who weren't pure left right and centre. I ran. You see there are ways that people like me, can become immortal. They anchor parts of their soul into objects. I found them, destroyed them, and then came back to destroy him. Which I did."

"Interesting, Potter-san. Would you call yourself a fighter, a leader, or a survivor?"

"All three," she responded promptly.

"Were you involved in any other wars other than the one you were destined to fight in?" The Hokage pressed. The blonde's eyes were darting between them rapidly, like he was trying to comprehend what the Hokage was thinking.

Willow hesitated for a moment, and considered lying. She had no idea where the Hokage was going with all these questions. "Yes. A few years later, there was a revolt over rights."

The old man's eyes narrowed at her, a brief hint of a smile lingering on his face. "Your role in this war?"

"…I was leading one side," she responded dully. "But really, equal rights isn't a _bad _thing."

The Hokage actually smiled at her petulant tone. Was she rubbing off on him? He wasn't going to try and kill her, was he? Cause' she didn't feel like explaining that she couldn't die. That, and keeping by Naruto's side when she was being hunted wasn't going to be easy. "You weren't always bound to a lamp, were you?"

Willow flinched, but much to her surprise, so did Inochi. Most likely because of the claustrophobic memory he'd encountered. "Correct," Willow paused, seeing an opportunity. "We have more than one name you see. You could witches for example. The thing is, binding one of us to the will of someone else, it's illegal. We used to do it all the time," she lied. "Then there was this big deal about inhumane it was, and the process was outlawed about fifty years ago."

She made that up, but it made sense. Working up her story, she continued. "I got on the wrong side of someone who had one of the olden day lamps that our ancestors were locked in. Now I know why they were outlawed."

"Potter-san, you're free to go. After the Chunin Exams are finished, we will discuss further your role in Konoha."

"…But you're letting me free, and to stay with Naruto until then, right?"

"Yes," the Hokage uttered, and as soon as the words left his lips, the black line around his neck fully disappeared. It was almost as if it'd never been there, at all. Willow smiled to hide her confusion, and her relief.

"Thank you for your time and consideration."

She really needed to summon death and question him about those lines. This was all his fault and she knew it.

* * *

Naruto POV

* * *

Naruto shifted on the balls of his feet anxiously, the tiredness had all but disappeared when he'd managed to eat something, and he had been feeling a bit better when Neji-teme had fallen into the lake.

Honestly, it wasn't that hard to catch a damn rabbit. Naruto had caught three in the time it had taken Neji to fall into the lake, curse about it and glare at him for laughing. Now of course, the long haired boy was in a bad mood, glaring darkly at his teammates, and all but glowering at Naruto.

The blonde didn't really care about that though, Neji glaring at him was so normal that he didn't even flinch at it. What had him anxiously bouncing up and down were Sasuke and Hinata, flat on their backs, even paler than they already were, a thin sheen of sweet gathering on their foreheads. They hadn't made so much of a squeak in the last few hours, if anything, they looked like they were slowly being poisoned.

"Hey Buns-chan," Naruto began nervously, fidgeting with the sleeve of his orange jacket. "Do ya think they're alright?"

Buns-chan placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, effectively stopping him from bouncing and playing with his sleeve at the same time. "They're probably dead," Neji replied dryly before Buns-chan had the chance. Naruto gave Neji an annoyed, yet extremely horrified sort of gaze. "Knowing Hinata, and how useless she is. She is only in this position because it is no longer her fate to be the Heiress of the Clan."

"Don't say that about your cousin, Teme!" Naruto lurched forward, fist already made, eyes starting to bleed red. Buns-chan gripped his upper arm and pulled him backwards.

"Neji," she said warningly. "They're going to be fine. In any case, we need to get them more professional help. And then, they'll be fine."

"No, they're not," Neji refuted stubbornly, gazing deep into Naruto's eyes. Naruto froze under the hardened gaze of his kinda-rival. "Look the Uchiha looks like he'll pull through, he's not shaking. But Hinata-sama has practically wittered away. She'll die. The clan will then have to rely on her sister, Hanabi-sama, to lead the clan in the future."

"Hinata's not going to die, bastard!" Naruto snapped, wrenching himself out of Buns-chan's grasp, her grip slackened, and didn't bother to try and pull him back again. "She's your cousin! Stop saying stuff like that!" he lurched forward faster than he thought himself capable, his fist smacked right into Neji's jaw.

Neji flew backwards, hand grazing over his jaw, feet spread apart to stop himself from moving any further backwards. There was silence, only broken by the soft sounds of his teams breathing. With a frown, he did realise that Hinata's breathing was more stuttered, like she was struggling to keep her breathing up. "Do not presume to tell me what I can and cannot say, Uzumaki. You will earn one day that fate will make the final choice."

"Fate is bullshit! It's just made by the stuff you do! If you change your mind, then the path you're on changes too!" Naruto snapped remembering the conversation he had on the rooftop with Nee-chan. "You get to make your own fate!"

Neji shook his head, before straitening up, a purple looking mark spreading over his jaw, where Naruto had hit him. "Still as repugnant as ever, Uzumaki. But not as repugnant as you are, hiding in the trees."

Naruto snapped his head to the side, suddenly on edge, who was here? Why hadn't he noticed they were there?! Why did Neji-teme sense them when he didn't?! "It would be impolite, to not let you useless Konoha nin kill each other off."

"And then," a second voice continued, as a trio of nin exited the trees. "We can pick off the weakest of you."

"And take your scrolls," the last voice finished, a massive grin on his face.


	14. Chapter 14

**Ain't Never Had a Friend Like Me**

**Chapter 14: Teams and Spiritual Powers**

**A/N-**

**To start off with, can we all have a round of internet applause for my new, and wonderful Beta, who managed to edit this thing, pretty much overnight and didn't mind my buttering of the English language. Please give it up for **_AsahinaTora_**!**

**_Poll time!_**** _Vote in the reviews on who to pair Naruto with. (This might not be the end paring, keep in mind)._** It's not going to be for a few chapters either, but I think it'll be cute to have Willow help Naruto out with a crush. And I don't particularly like Sakura, in an 'I-like-you Crush sort of way'. So your options are; Ino, Haku, Shikamaru, Tenten, or Gaara, maybe I can be persuaded for Hinata, but that has to one good argument.

So yes, bear in mind, this might have slash in it. Also realise that I don't care, and it's my story, and if I want slash, and the majority of you amazing guys want slash, then _there will be slash_.

* * *

Hermione POV

* * *

Nervously, Hermione peered down the podium at the people whispering at her. There were so many people, oh wow. Peering out into the crowd, she couldn't see one friendly face, they were all shocked, surprised, scowling – incredulous.

As a tick, she reached up to fiddle with her normally long hair, only to fall short. She didn't have her normally long and bushy locks, no. Instead she was blessed with the untameable mess of bright red hair, cropped short, the ends curling about her ears.

She'd forgotten, momentarily, just how short Willow kept her hair. A far cry from the long locks she'd supported when they were still in school. Cringing at where her thoughts were going, because the story of why Willow kept her hair short was nothing short of upsetting, terrifying but, one of the bravest moments her friend had ever had. Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she refocused on the crowd, and tried to remind herself that she wasn't Hermione Jean Granger, but Willow Faye Potter.

She wasn't the shy bookworm, which enjoyed her job as an unspeakable, tearing apart the fabric of magic. She was the loud, and impulsive girl that could tear down battalions of contenders, and still stop to apply lip gloss. Not that Willow had been doing much of the latter after the Battle of Hogwarts.

Hermione frowned, Willow hadn't been much of herself after the battle of Hogwarts. It was almost like she'd lost sight of who she was, and what she was, in favour of being what everyone else needed her to be. Clearing her throat, and emptying her mind from her errant thoughts, she stepped forward, nearly losing all her courage when the crowd began to cheer loudly, their faces relaying their shock, and the happiness. Heck, a few people had even started crying.

Idly, she noticed the Minister hanging around the fringe of the crowd, his eyes narrowed and jaw set angrily. He looked scared, she realised a few moments later, no, not scared – the man looked terrified. What had he done to Willow that would've caused this reaction to seeing her again? Hermione held her small, pale hands out, effectively quieting the crowd.

She was amazed at the amount of respect she was receiving just by wearing Willow's face. It was amazing. Hermione steeled herself, and tried to raise her voice a few octaves higher, so it could match her friend's high tones. "Wizards, and Witches, Werewolves, Vampires and all other creatures alike, welcome," she said, trying not to see any of the faces she was talking to, and remember the speech that Ron and Ginny had helped her write. It was difficult, trying to write something that Willow would come up with.

She was often unpredictable that way. "I have come before you today, a survivor of America's war with themself," she claimed, easily falling into the lie that the Ministry had given, about Willow getting in the way of a dispute between Vampires and Werewolves. "As I fought, and defended, I realised something, something that I promised myself I'd bring back to you," Hermione paused briefly, for effect. "There was so much blood spilled, so much potential and life lost for nothing. In the end, do we not all have souls? Do we not all breath? Do we not all have hopes and dreams? Are we not all worried for the wealth fare of the ones we love?"

The crowd was silent, and this silence was starting to unnerve her. Honestly, how did Willow do this without losing her resolve? "In those moments, where I thought I would die, I remember thinking one thing. We should all unite, not as human, not as people, but as souls. We are connected in such a fundamental level. Why is it necessary that we need to destroy, others? To protect the one's we love? For honour? Pride? Morality? No. Because if we destroy one another, we destroy the loved ones of others. It is truly, not worth the pain."

The crowd which had been silent moments previously, broke out into cheers, and all the clapping was starting to make her ears ring. She glanced to the side, once she realised that her hands were slowly turning darker, and her fingers were starting to elongate. Quickly, she took a sip of the spiked water sitting in front of her. Instantly, her fingers shortened again, the colour draining out of her palm.

"I'm not finished," she tried to say, voice louder than the cheering going on about her, but she feared her voice had come out a bit too Hermione-ish. She prayed that no one had noticed the small signs of her polyjuice starting to wear off. "That's why, when I got back and my friends started talking about a magical serial killer, I was alarmed. First, we try and destroy the muggle born, and in exchange, we fire off against the pure blood? Will this fighting never stop? Can we never be happy? Can we never be safe? I beg of you, please stop all of this nonsense, and turn to each other and accept who we are, and not what we are?"

Surveying the crowd around her, she nodded her head in approval. If this didn't work to stop the serial pure blood killings in England, then the only real thing that could stop them was the real Willow Potter. Hermione felt a brief surge of happiness at that thought, they were so close to being able to pull her out, using the seals carved on the paper she'd nicked from her office.

With Malfoy studying the tiny seals, and her own impeccable analysing skills, it was a matter of time until they could detect the anchor that was the other lamp and use the Veil of Death to rip her back into this universe. Yes, that was right, the Veil, she had realised was less of a Veil as it was a portal. Upon reading more into it, they had realised that the 'Death' part of the Veil was simply because of body not belonging to a universe was simply torn into shreds if left in the universe for too long.

Hermione also felt like Willow wouldn't have that issue, because of her lamp, and her own considerable skill level. Using the Veil to pull something through, however, shouldn't be too hard if they had something tangible, an object, to anchor their spell too.

It was only a matter of time before her and Draco managed to figure out how to do that. She grinned, Willow would be home in _mere_ weeks. Of course, that wasn't going to stop her from looking more in depth about the universe travel thing. Why couldn't a body be in a universe not their own for too long? And how long was it before it started to destroy the person, inside and out?

* * *

Willow POV

* * *

There were several things that Willow would've thought were going to happen when she'd claimed she was a genie, and managed to actually get them to believe her. This, she concluded glumly, wasn't even in the top ten. Granted, she figured her punishment could've been worse, it didn't help that she wasn't sure how to summon death with a god-damned babysitter.

Yes, you heard her right. She had a babysitter. The man who looked like he was in his late twenties, had appeared with a sheepish grin, and pink stained cheeks as he tried to valiantly explain exactly why he was on her doorstep. He'd already apologised for unconvincing her, at least six times as well.

It was odd, she mused, eyeing the man, who was busy scribbling something down on a stack of papers. Why the Hokage would assign this man to oversee her, when he obviously had so much on his plate already. Eyeing what he was writing down, she realised with a jolt that he wasn't writing anything, per say, but marking papers with unsure and squiggly handwriting.

Was he, her babysitter and a blasted teacher? "Do you need help with those?" Willow offered finally, getting bored of flickering through the pages of Icha Icha Violence. It really wasn't as entertaining re-reading the book when she had someone distracting her. Plus, this guy was interesting.

She briefly wondered how he had gotten that scar running down his face, cutting through the bridge of his nose. "Ah," he said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "No, that's perfectly okay Wiloo-san. I just have a lot of back logged assignments that need marking."

"It's Will-ow," she corrected absentmindedly, placing her book down on the corner of her coffee table, and rocking forward on her beanbag. Which had ironically, still didn't get a questioning gaze. "Are you sure? Just give me a base copy to work off. I don't mind helping you out."

"Ah, I'm sorry. Will-oo-san. If you're sure," the man said, voice hesitant, like he wasn't sure if she was allowed to do this himself. "I certainly do need the help."

"It's –ow, not –oo," she corrected again, this time a tad more absentmindedly. The ninja across from her blushed bright red, before muttering an apology.

He flickered through his pages, and she had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at him getting her name wrong, again. It was an unusual name, she reminded herself, very western, in a not very western culture. Finally, he pulled out a copy of the work, written in neat closely knit, handwriting before passing it off to her, with a bunch of unmarked papers, and a red pen.

How muggle, she thought amused, having a flash back to muggle primary school where this sort of thing was very standard. Willow read the first line, and she had to resist smirking. History of Konoha, huh? Well, she mused lightly, she was certainly going to be learning something. After marking a few pages, she stopped for a second. "Did they tell you why you were watching me?"

"No," Iruka answered, not even flinching from his task, or moving his eyes. "Hokage-sama just said that he needed Naruto's guardian taken care of until the Chunin Exams were over."

Willow paused, remembering the Hokage's ringing promise of them taking this back up when he wasn't so wrapped up in the exam. Huh, she wasn't exactly going on scotch-free, was she? Why this guy though? Willow asked herself, giving a small paragraph in front of her a neat tick. A teacher, who wouldn't really be able to take her on in a combat situation.

Maybe he could though, she really wouldn't know. The Hokage would have been foolish to think that someone who went through two wars, as the leader wouldn't have skills in combat. So obviously, this mild-mannered and soft-spoken school teacher had to have a lot more skill than she gave him credit for.

With that amusing thought in her mind, and eyeing said man curiously out of the corner of her eye, she focused solely on marking these papers and thinking about what had happened to her. Heck, she even knew who Naruto's parents were. His _dead _parents, poor boy. Like her, he'd never get to be able to meet his parents, to have a conversation-. Wait a second.

Hadn't Death told her she could get the spirits of this realm to do her bidding? That they were hers to command? Did that include Naruto's parents? Could she… maybe… possibly meet them, and let Naruto know what they were like?! Was she allowed to tell Naruto about his parents, anyway?

Bah, she didn't care if she wasn't meant to. He deserved to know. But, how did one summon spirits? She'd need to question Death, and maybe, just maybe, she could figure out what those damn black rings were. Willow hadn't noticed that her hand had stilled for a while, until Iruka asked her if she was stuck on the question.

Shaking her head to hide her forming grin, she hurried to fill out the rest of the paper with the correct answers. All she needed, was five minutes alone to summon Death and see if this was all possible. Granted, with a babysitter of unknown skill like Iruka, she wasn't sure if this would be at all possible…

"Genie-cha~n!" a loud voice yelled, the front door slamming open, and glancing up she could see the door knob stuck in the wall. It wasn't the first time this had happened, and she had to resist the urge to sigh. "I'm back~! Do you have any of that 'pizza' thing left!?"

Iruka looked up with narrowed eyes, only to have them widen with surprise moments later. Willow rolled her eyes, going back to her grading. Honestly, she should have expected this. It was getting too quiet. "It's on the second shelf. And for the love of Merlin, could you not break my wall?"

"I know someone who certainly wants to break your wall," Zabuza started to say, his voice suggestive, his steps languid as he entered the room, Haku steps behind him, bowing, apologising and attempting to help fix her wall.

How that man managed to raise such a nice, polite kid, she'd never know. However, the Jonin stopped moments into the apartment, his beady little eyes fully focused on Iruka, his grin widening to reveal his full set of sharp, pointed teeth. To the teacher's defence though, he honestly didn't look as put out as she thought he would've. Further mollifying the idea that he was more powerful than she was giving him credit for.

"And who is this Genie-chan?" he sounded positively delighted as he waltzed forward and threw himself at the little couch, next to Iruka to peer at his papers, before pulling a face. "An Academy Instructor? Mah, can I break it to Copycat?"

"For the last time," Willow said, distracted from her thoughts for a moment, aberration colouring her tone. "Kakashi and I aren't having a passionate affair. Nor would I be cheating on him with Iruka, if we were having that affair – which we aren't. Haku, honestly, I'll fix it later." She directed the last part to the young boy trying to wedge the door out of the wall.

"Yeah, Haku, go warm the pizza up," Zabuza said throwing a grin over his shoulder. The boy nodded, and much to Willow's chagrin, went off to the kitchen. "Why do you lie to me so? I thought we were friends?"

"What gave you that impression?" she muttered, almost bitterly. "Why couldn't your mission last forever?"

He grinned, his pointy teeth, and razor-like eyes pinned her down for a moment, before they lazily made their way back towards the teacher. "So," he said, face pointed away from her, life he was content in ignoring the comment she had made. "What brings you here, to the homes of the rejects?"

"Hokage-sama," the main trailed off slowly, looking at Willow, a little unsure. "Has asked for it."

Zabuza scoffed, quirking one of his half-brows at him suggestively. "Are you sure you're not the other woman?"

Willow hurled her pen at the ninja, but of course, with his reflexes and her lack-thereof, he dogged it with ease. "For the last time, Kakashi and I aren't in Merlin damned relationship! And he's a man, not a woman!"

Zabuza grinned. Damn it. Why was he so annoying!? Iruka for his part, looked very unsure.

* * *

Naruto POV

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto wasn't an idiot. Contrary to popular belief, he knew what was up, and he knew how to formulate a plan and work together as a team. However, that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy kicking butt where he wanted to. Now however, wasn't the time, nor place for that kind of thinking.

"Give us your scroll!" the other ninja had demanded, moments before Lee, who had been righteously outraged, drop kicked him for being unyouthful. The boy, Naruto shuddered, was way too much like Gai-sensei for his own good.

The boy fell from the tree, the Sound Headband coming to a clunk when it hit the ground below him. Naruto waited for a second before deciding that the boy had been knocked unconscious by the sheer power in one of Lee's kicks.

"Zaku, you are a fucking idiot," a guy with spiky black hair, said, his hand covering his face. The other girl on the team's mouth twitched, like she very much agreed with the profanity-lined statement. "Kin, you go for the Hyuga girl. I'll go for the Uchiha."

Neji's eyes narrowed at the comment made about his cousin, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw the older boy start to frown. "You, do not have the right to touch a member of the Hyuga family," he said, voice cold. It was a stark contrast to the whole 'she's gonna die thing' he had moments ago. "I'll have to kill you first."

No one moved. Kin's eye narrowed at them, eyes trying to settle on one of them, but not being able to find what she wanted. The girl stilled, hissing; "Dozu, I think we're outnumbered."

Dozu tisked, eyes narrowed right at Naruto, who did his best to give him Willow-chan's favourite 'the-heck-are-you-doing' looks. The Sound boy actually raised an eyebrow at him, teeth forming a large grin. "It's certainly a few extra then we were expecting, but I doubt this trash could even dare to touch us, Kin."

Naruto smirked, and tried to hide the amused glee he found was bubbling up in his chest. Oh, he'd done it alright. "What did you just say to me?" Neji asked, pupil-less eyes narrowed in disgust. "You, have the nerve to call me, Hyuga Neji, trash?"

The other boy smirked, his eyes shining his happiness from baiting Neji apparent. Lee began to shake his head, a worried frown upon his lips, but an amused look dancing around his eyes. Everyone with half a brain knew not to insult the long-haired boy, he didn't take kindly to such things. "Why ye-."

The boy didn't even get to finish his sentence before he was cut off by a sharp cry of, "Juken!"

In a matter of seconds, the boy had lost his ability to mould chakra out of each point of his body. Hyuga Neji standing over him, his eyes gleaming with fury as he looked over at the girl, Kin, who started to back away slowly.

"This trash could never hope to beat a Hyuga," he said contemptuously. "It wasn't in his fate."

"Hey Neji," Naruto called out, not very phased by his speed. Training with Gai, allowed you to be prepared for that sort of thing. "How do you know what the fate's want, anyway?"

"Shut up, Uzumaki. Do you want us to take your useless team to the tower, or not?" he snapped, eye's narrowed at the girl, Kin, who had taken off into the trees underneath the harsh stare of the Hyuga. "Lee, check them for their scroll. We need to get to the tower."

"Of course, my teammate!" Lee all but cheered, looking up at the boy with a passion burning in his eye, his feet twitching to ask the older boy to a fight. To test their strength against one another. He however, much to Naruto's surprise, didn't do that, instead reaching down to the boy's pockets and slowly patted down both, before he pulled out a small scroll, triumphant look on his face. "Aha! Just the one we need! What luck!"

"No, not luck," Neji said slowly, though a smile started to creep onto his face as well. "It was Fate they would be woefully underprepared and challenge us."

"Is it also Fate that I joined you guys, and you helped me protect my team?"

"Yes," Neji said coldly, eyes cutting Naruto, before he contemptuously took a few steps forward, and slung Hinata over his shoulder. Much to his shock. "As a Hyuga, we must take care of one another. Fate brought you here to band together our Clan, in protection."

"I thought you hated Hinata-chan," Naruto groused, grabbing Sasuke before slinging him over his shoulder, much like Neji had done with Hinata, and took off running through the trees. Not that it took them very long to be amongst the braches, flying through the rain of leaves.

"I do not," Neji replied shortly. "I however, do not approve of Hinata-sama."

"Isn't that the same thing?"

"No," he replied, sneer on his face. "For I hate you, Uzumaki, but I approve of you."

Naruto had to resist the urge to stop, and act like a thunderstruck idiot. "Why don't ya like me?"

"Don't worry Naruto," Tenten interjected. "It's harder to get Neji's approval than it is to get him to like you."

Bun's-chan team was weird.

* * *

Willow POV

* * *

Being cramped into the bathroom for a brief reprieve, wasn't what Willow had in mind when she started her day. Again, she hadn't expected to be caught out as a genie either. Or, to have a babysitter – or have Zabuza barge in, refuse to leave and make several comments on how he was 'cheating' on Kakashi with Iruka, said babysitter.

If the dark-haired man made one more quip, she'd have to strangle him. Honestly, the redhead had thought that the man only made those comments because they embarrassed Kakashi, now, he seemed to be making them for the sake of it. Maybe it's because it annoyed her, who knew? Damn, she hardly even knew Kakashi asides from academics and Naruto. What on earth possessed him to think they had any form of relationship? 

Troublesome man. With a sigh, she rested her head against the wall. She wasn't getting anything done by sitting here in this tiny cramped space. All she could do in the other room was sit still and try not to think. Try to not want to demand answers. With a sigh, she wished she could summon Death without having to actually speak the words out loud-.

Before she could even let out a whoosh of breath, the atmosphere in the tiny bathroom dropped several degrees, and glancing up, she saw the visage of a black cloak hovering in the mirror. Knowing that whatever she said couldn't be overheard in the other room, she said the first thing she thought of. "I didn't die this time."

"You called," the voice drawled, calm and concise. Willow raised an eyebrow. Had she? She'd wished for it, but she certainly didn't say the words out loud.

"Right, of course," she mumbled trying to calm her racing heart. How on earth did this 'calling' thing work, because she'd tried so many different word combinations last time, and this time, all she had to do was think about it? "I wanted to ask you if you knew anything about black rings around peoples necks?"

"Grey is for limited time, black means they've over-stayed."

What on earth did that even mean? "What if it's grey and disappears?" Willow asked, wondering what that could mean. Her mind on the ring that had been around the Hokage's neck before it disappeared.

"Their path, has been altered."

Path altered? Like they chose to do something differently than they were going to? Or someone else did? What did limited time mean anyway? Was he referring to these people's deaths? Did she inherit the power to see when someone was about to die!? How horrible! "Wait, am I foreseeing peoples deaths?"

"Death is subjective."

How the hell was death subjective!? "I want to summon a spirit, from this world, how do I do that?"

There was a brief moment of silence, when the only thing Willow noticed was the slow rhythm that her chest rose and fell with each breath. "You only have to ask. Be wary, Mistress, no spirit has the same power as I."

"Well yes, of course," she said, voice confused and brows rising. "You're Death after all. What power are you talking about?"

"The one to freeze time."

Ah, that was it then. If someone caught her talking to a spirit, then she'd be caught talking to thin air, before she could open her mouth with another one of her burning questions however, Death was already fading out.

"It is someone's time," he was saying, and he disappeared. "Until next time, Mistress."

Why was Death always such a cryptic jackarse? And why, Willow thought closing her eyes and hitting her head against the wall behind her, had he given her the power to see those before they were going to die? With her saving people thing, she had quite a bit going on.

She wasn't going to get distracted from her original goal. At all. But she did need to be alone to summon the spirits of Naruto's family. How creepy did that sound?

* * *

Naruto POV

* * *

Naruto was worried. The moment they had turned up at the end point and handed over their scrolls, Kakashi-sensei had turned up and taken Hinata and Sasuke away. Was it those marks? Is it because of what Orochimaru said to him? He should tell Kakashi-sensei about that. But when would he be back?

Naruto was ushered into a room with all the other teams that had passed the exam, but without the support of his team behind him, Naruto came in feeling very quiet, and most certainly, out of place. Naruto slipped in behind Kiba's team, right behind his Sensei, and tried not to say a single word. They didn't seem to notice him anyway. Before much could happen, a man slowly walked forward from his position next to this old guy with really long white hair.

"I am Hayate," the man started to cough uncontrollably, the hacking sound made it even more apparent that he had dark circles underneath his eyes. "I'm going to be the Procter of the exam. Before we start, is there anyone who cannot, for any reasons at all, continue with the exam? Please, raise your hands now."

Naruto quietly watched the surrounding shinobi and wondered who would quit, especially when they were so close. "I'm out!" that sneak Kabuto said, raising his hand, sheepish smile on his face.

That guy was strange. "Anyone else?" the Protector finished with a light cough.

"I have a question!" this time it was the pink-haired Sakura who spoke up, her pretty green eyes (not as green as nee-chan's though), glinted with an unknown emotion. The sick old man nodded, and motioned for her to continue. "I thought you had to pass the second portion of the exam with your team surviving. Naruto's team isn't here."

Naruto tried not to flinch, remembering the way that Hinata and Sasuke had been shrieking, and clutching their necks. How useless he felt trying to help them… he should be there, with them! No, Sasuke would tell him he was being stupid if he quit now. Hayate coughed loudly for a few moments, and it was enough time for everyone in the room to turn and look at him.

Damn, the whole not being seen thing wasn't working very well for him. "In the case of team seven. All members of the team made it to the tower. The other members of team seven are incapable of fighting in this preliminary match, and have been forcibly removed from the third part of the exam."

"Sasuke-kun is alright though?" the pink-haired girl asked, eyebrows raised, causing Ino, the blonde one to bit her lip nervously.

"He must have been protecting Naruto," Ino muttered back to the girl, her voice hushed, but that didn't mean that Naruto didn't hear her. The blonde boy frowned over at the two girls, he was just as strong as Sasuke was! Why couldn't anyone see that? "Sasuke-kun is so sweet."

"Does anyone have any more questions?" Hayate asked, coughing loudly. Man, this guy was super sick! "No? Excellent. If you'll all divert your attention to these boards. Two names will randomly match up, and the winner of this match up will go on to the third exam."

Naruto looked over to the board, it was a heavy looking gray thing, with two little clear-looking screens. He watched as names filtered back and forth until it rested on two. "Haruno Sakura vs Sabaku no Gaara."

"Yeah! Time to show you all what I'm made of!" Sakura cheered, smiling over at her teammates, and looking at her Sensei with a smile before she stood up and made her way down the stairs. Across the room, the red-haired boy moved out of his seat silently, and shifted down the stairs into the arena.

"Go Sakura!" Kiba, the boy sitting in front of him cheered. "Show that weirdo just what someone from team eight can do!"

Naruto blinked, and shifted his body closer to the edge of the arena. Right next to Kiba. "Are you both ready?" the man asked, and the two Genin both nodded slowly. "Then begin." He leapt backwards, and much to Naruto's horror, the fight lasted a whole of ten seconds.

Gaara lifted his hand, sand trailing through his fingers before shooting towards Sakura. The girl tried to dodge out of the way, but the sand just grabbed her and wrapped around her body. The sounds of Sakura's screams were enough to force him to close his eyes. Then he wrenched them open again right in time for him to witness the guy with long white hair who was by the stand intervene. Looking down, just as Hayate said; "Winner, Sabaku no Gaara!" he was privy to an unconscious girl who was nearly completely purple. There were welts covering her body from where the sand had infected her skin.

She was bleeding. A lot. Sakura, the one with the foamy green eyes, and an energetic wave as she went down. Was she forced into this mess? How… How… Horrible.

That guy was dangerous. This whole thing was dangerous, and damn, he hoped Sasuke and Hinata were okay. "S-Sakura?" Kiba had shouted, his eyes wide, and horrified looking down at his team mate.

Looking over at all the other kids that graduated with him, he realised that they all looked, green. Scared. Unsure. Naruto's shoulders were frozen, what if? What now… With a ding, Naruto forced his eyes back towards the computerized motor that continued to match up genin. The bright names spun for what felt like ages, until they froze, revealing the names of Yamanaka Ino and Inuzuka Kiba.

"Heh! Yeah, easy!" Kiba had yelled with an over joyed laugh. "Ino won't even be an issue! Ahaha," he broke off into loud hysterics, but Naruto's focus was on the red head boy. He'd moved back to his seat, next to the other two Sand Genin, but they both looked aptly terrified of him.

Quickly, he glanced back down at the arena to see Kiba bragging about being superior to the blonde haired girl, who had developed a twitch in her eye. Her hands fell into a hand sign the second the Procter said 'start', and Kiba, with his attitude, hadn't realised what she was doing until the girl started shouting about a Mind Body Transfer Jutsu.

Kiba blinked slowly, before raising his hand and claiming, "I surrender."

That… was very anti-climactic considering the previous match-up. Naruto blinked, wondering when he was going fight. He was starting to grow restless and honestly, he just wanted this entire thing to hurry up so he could go check on Sasuke and Hinata. Honestly, it kind of sucked that he was here and they weren't!

Naruto pulled a funny face. Actually, he didn't want to be in this exam at all without his team. They'd all worked together so hard to achieve getting this far, and what? He was going to take it all for himself? It was his Genin exam all over again! No. This time, he wasn't riding off anyone else. This time, he wasn't going to let something like this dictate what he'd achieve!

He wasn't going to do it! He'd try again, next time, with Hinata and Sasuke by his side! "Uzumaki Naruto!" a coughing voice yelled, and surprised, Naruto looked over at the screen to read the words, Uzumaki Naruto vs. Sabuku no Temari.

Already in the dome, the blonde girl from Suna was standing, a hand on her fan, an annoyed twitch to her lips. "Uh, I changed my mind. I quit."

Before the proctor could react, and despite the incredulous looks he was getting from his peers, the blonde girl bet them all. "No, you aren't. Get your lazy arse down here and fight me."

"I don't want to," Naruto retorted, feeling his cheeks puff out, as he petulantly crossed his arms with a huff. The blonde girl looked enraged, but before he could ask to surrender again, Neji had appeared behind him, his hand on his shoulder and he pushed.

Failing just a bit because of the Hyuga, who was smarmily stating that Naruto, "can't just quit after all you've put me through."

To stop himself from falling to the ground, he used chakra to stick his feet to the side of the wall of the arena, and glared up at Neji who had narrowed eyes and pursed lips. Glancing behind the annoying Hyuga, stood Buns-chan, and Bushy Brows. They both looked worried, but Buns-chan still managed to look supportive and nodded her head slowly.

She wanted him to fight. But why would he when it wasn't fair that his team wasn't here? Shouldn't he be disqualified? Glancing up at the Hokage's stand, that didn't have a Hokage, but an equally as old guy, with long white hair, and to red lines dripping down his face, Naruto made a choice.

The old man was leaning forward, the old man wanted him to fight. Naruto would fight, in place of his teammates, for his teammates.

And by Merlin, he'd win, he promised himself, easily picking up one of Willow-chan's common phrases. Naruto dispersed the chakra underneath his feet, and began to run down the side of the wall, before making a small jump, feet spread apart – and knees bent. Nee-chan had instilled the perfect way to land after jumping from a high space. She was right, didn't even hurt.

Naruto sucked in a deep breath, glancing up at the stands – the first thing he saw was Kiba's sour looking face. Served him right, though, he really shouldn't go underestimating Ino because she wasn't very good in class. Just look how far he had come, even if none of them thought he'd come very far. This was it, wasn't it? Was it time to prove to his old classmates that he wasn't the idiotic dead-last they thought he was? 

Of course it was time! Naruto broke out into a sunny grin, mentally thanking Neji for giving him the push he so righteously needed. "Are you going to fight me then, Konoha Ninja!? Can we start before he wimps out, please!?"

Naruto frowned, not sure he liked this older blonde that much. With a nod towards Hayate, the man nodded in return, shouting the words everyone wanted to hear: "Ready? Go!"

She started almost at once, flipping her massive fan out, and sending a big gust of wind his way. If he had any other Sensei, he wouldn't have been able to avoid it nearly as well as he had. He took the easy route – he swapped places with one of the rocks lining the battle arena. One of the few things down here that was even possible for him to switch with. "Hah!" the girl was saying, as the dirt died down from her attack. "Not even one good move in—where'd he go!?"

From behind her, Naruto had already formed the proper hand signs to create the earth style, earth spikes. Temari spun around quickly, only just managing to jump out of the way of his rapidly forming spikes, one of them just managing to break the skin on her forearm. She hissed, before spreading out her fan once more – attacking with another wind-based Jutsu.

Naruto thought this was very stupid, because all he did was swap spots with the same rock he'd used previously. This time however, he came out closer to the girl, and before she even realised he was there – he tried to knock her out with the back of a kunai. Obviously though, he hadn't hit her hard enough because she simply hissed again, eyes narrowed at the boy as she brought her fan up to bat him away.

Naruto let the wind push him backwards, observing as she cradled the back of her head. She'd more than likely bruise, Naruto had felt sorry about that. Without thinking, Naruto summoned up a few shadow clones – and by a few, he meant thirty, to surround her on all sides.

She grimaced, having to stand in the middle of all these little blonde terrors, her head twisting to each side, trying to figure out how to destroy them all, how to get out. "You aren't as much of a baby as I thought you were," she goaded him, causing all the Naruto clones to frown. "I might actually have to take you seriously."

Naruto, couldn't let that happen. The blonde, brought her fan up, and pushed it around the side of her, before flaring it around her entire body, like she was creating a tornado, with herself at the centre, with the wind only drawing outwards. Every third Naruto created a wall, and allowed the winds to bat against them, effectively destroying them, but allowing the Jutsu to dissipate.

The clones that used the Jutsu, dispersed rather quickly, allowing the other Naruto's the open space to attack her when she was still recovering from expanding a large amount of chakra. The Suna Ninja though, was prepared for this, and had no problem with hand to hand combat, parring his moves, and dodging his strikes – but Naruto had an advantage.

There was still fifteen of him, and one of her. That, and his clones moved as one big team. Eventually, the real Naruto got into the mix, and managed to wrench her fan off her, much to her shocked expression. Naruto two held up his hand, to stop the blonde girl from moving forward and beating the shit out of him to get it back. "Give me my fan you little-."

"Ah," the Naruto clone said, imitating a voice Kakashi-sensei would normally use. The real Naruto held the fan out to the side, another clone, doing the same hand sign he'd seen Sasuke pull a million times – for his cool fire Jutsu. "Take one step closer, and he'll set it on fire."

She froze, and Naruto hoped she liked her fan as much as he'd originally assumed she had. "You wouldn't set yourself on fire in the process," she hissed.

"I'm a clone," the decidedly not-clone Naruto said, voice cheerful. "I don't really mind getting burned. It's happened before," he said before shrugging, a lie, but a necessary one. "If you surrender, we will give it back."

Her eyes narrowed at him, a selective breath being taken. "You wouldn't dare-."

The Naruto clone that was holding the hand sign for Sasuke's Jutsu, took a deep breath before starting to say; "Gōkaky-."

"Fine!" she threw her hand up, causing the Naruto clone to stop, much to his relief. "Fine! I surrender, you little punk."

Naruto grinned. "Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!" he allowed his clones to puff out, in a haze of smoke, leaving himself there, clutching her fan. She frowned.

"You weren't going to use that fire Jutsu, were you?" she said, voice accusing. Naruto shrugged his shoulders, suddenly feeling sheepish as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"I don't actually know any fire Jutsu," he admitted, trying not to flinch as a livid expression filtered over her face. "My team mate, Sasuke' favourite technique is a fire one. I just copied what I saw him doing."

"_You can't just do that_!" her voice was dangerously high-pitched, her eyes narrowed at the boy with object anger. "You were bluffing that entire time! You… You!" 

Naruto knew that it was best not to get on the wrong side of an angry woman – because, well, when nee-chan was angry – things started to explode, literally. So he did the only sane thing he could think of, he tossed her fan at her, lunged for the arena wall, and ran back up it – and hide behind Brows-sensei.

He was standing a little bit to the side, away from his team with the other Jonin-sensei, expect for Kakashi-sensei who wasn't there. The pretty lady, with bright red eyes looked down at him, her pink lips twisted in some form of smirk, but it didn't hide the concern in her eyes. "You must be Kakashi's student."

"Huh?" Naruto didn't understand how she knew. The other Jonin, a shorter man, well, shorter than the pretty lady at least, with a mop of messy back hair chuckled.

"The one who bet the system," he confirmed for the other black-haired woman, with a smirk of his own. "Amazing to see it happen in person."

"My rival imparts his cool and hip attitude wherever he goes," Brows-sensei confirmed, moving so Naruto was no longer hiding behind him. What on earth were these people talking about? Naruto avoided the gaze of the sensei from the Suna team, who was peering over at him curiously, obviously able to hear what the Konoha Jonin were saying.

"Hyuga Neji vs Nara Shikamaru!"

Huh, Naruto thought turning back to the battle field, trying to ignore the way that the Konoha sensei's were bickering over Kakashi-sensei. This fight might actually be kinda cool. Could he go see Hinata and Sasuke now? Naruto turned back to Brows-sensei, only to realise he was now seriously into the fight, as was the short guy, who thought he'd bet the system somehow.

Did he know he cheated on his Genin test? "Merlin," Naruto breathed out, horrified, not even realising what he was saying. The two black haired Jonin eyes him curiously, not that he noticed, the only thought bouncing in their heads being, what an odd name.

* * *

The Third Hokage's POV

The Hokage's Office

* * *

As the Hokage, he had seen many things in his time, and regrated many more. This, was one of the reasons why he felt like he was no longer capable of being Hokage for much longer – the job, was taking the toll on his health. Much more than it had previously, letting him know what he already did. He was getting way too old for this.

The man sighed, lacing his hands under his chin, his serious gaze locking onto the scantily dressed woman, with purple hair standing before him. Her face too, was set, and angry. At this point, he had wished he hadn't shoved the preliminary fights off to Jiraiya to handle. "Orochimaru, did you find him, Anko-chan?" 

"No," she said shortly, not that he could find much fault in the young girls attitude. After everything he'd been told, he couldn't find it in him to fault her anything. She had, of course, been the one hit the hardest by Orochimaru's betrayal

He should have done something back then. If he had, this wouldn't be happening now. "He slipped past us. We found the bodies of those he possessed as well."

If the Hokage could be seen as anything less than perfectly calm, and composed, he would've swore. Great, now he was going to have to deal with the political backlash from the country that sent those Genin into Konoha. He'd have to lie, he mused, tell them they'd passed in the exam. It was notoriously dangerous. "Any other news?" 

"The Genin Hyuga and Uchiha, who were branded with the seal," she spoke softly, her hand coming up to cup the side of her neck, where her own seal was, but locked underneath an even stronger seal. "Have been sealed. Because of the danger of having to do two of them, Hatake-san detained them from the second part of the test. They were disqualified, but, the seal looks like it should hold any of Orochimaru's influence back."

"But?" the Hokage questioned, knowing there was more she wanted to add. After all, the look on the young girls face was dying to continue talking.

"The seal, sir, is based on willpower," she said curtly, frowning. "It can easily be swayed, and the young Hyuga, she is going to get branded with the Caged Bird Seal for having Orochimaru's seal on her body – I know those damned types, they'll think she'd tainted," she spat, anger flashing in her eyes, like a demon ready to let loose and slaughter everyone in her path. "I've seen her around Konoha as well, Hokage-sama, she is too mild mannered to be able to fight this off without the proper help."

The Hokage sighed, he'd already come to much a similar conclusion as young Anko had. The girl, already knew what it was like to be thought of as lesser because of Orochimaru's mark, and obviously, hadn't wanted the young Hyuga girl to have to go through the same thing. Hyuga Hinata, stood to lose of status of Heiress because of this. The Hokage frowned, something, he was sure, Orochimaru would have done purposefully.

To lure the girl over to his side, so he could have the power within her eyes. Her bloodline limit. Hiashi would of course, know this straight away, and seal the girl as well. Therefore, if she ever lost control over what Orochimaru had done to her, she'd lose her life. It was a precarious balance that they needed to strike. "You wish to do what, Anko-chan?"

"I want to help her," she paused for a second. "Both of those Genin. The seal isn't easy to fight off – willpower alone isn't enough to keep you fighting through it. Heck, the seal nearly killed the Hyuga! Hokage-sama! You have to allow me time to get them properly situated to help them fight it off!"

The Hokage frowned. "You would of course, need to be seeking permission from their sensei," he pointed out, in an attempt to stall. He realised the importance of what she was saying, and with those two no longer participating in the exam, he was more willing to allow her this choice. However… "Hatake Kakashi, the one who sealed the two."

"His third student, Uzumaki, has passed into the last stage. Give me a month," she sounded seriously on the edge of pleading. "Hatake has to worry about his third student, and I can help those two prepare for the painful journey that's going to span for the rest of their lives!"

The Hokage cleared his throat, his hands twitching as he leaned back in his chair, trying to carefully contemplate the woman's words. Sighing, he nodded. "I see your point. I will talk to Kakashi. You may start as soon as both Genin have been cleared from the hospital, no sooner."

"Of course sir," she breathed, eyes wide, and somewhat humbled. The purple haired woman then nodded once, before turning on the heel of her foot, and marching out of his office – leaving the door wide open. She was off to the hospital, regardless of his warning – the one thing about the Special Jonin, she had vigour, and a mind to start things right away.

Just another thing to add to his plate while he was at it. Heaving another sigh, the next person to walk into his room was none other than his spy-master of a student. He hoped, honestly, that the man had some good news to impart with him. "Hey sensei, got the finalists all sorted, and the first rounds of matches set up for you."

The Hokage relaxed for a moment, allowing the blissful relaxation to settle over his bones as Jiraiya firmly shut the door behind him. "And what matches they were! Naruto's a little blackmail artist, isn't he?"

He felt a headache once again, firmly taking root in his head. "Again?" he groaned. "That boy will be the death of me."

"I don't know what you mean, Sensei. It was fantastic," his student was grinning a wide one, which showed a bit too much pride in his godson. "First he got her riled up, trapped her, and then threatened her with a jutsu he didn't even know, it was _hilarious_!"

Sarutobi sighed, feeling his age once again. He really, really, needed to step down. And after this year's Chunin Exam was over, he was stepping down. He couldn't handle this for much longer. Which left him with his choices for the next Hokage; Jiraiya or Kakashi, neither of whom showed much interest in the post. "Who has managed to make it into the next round, Jiraiya? How have our Genin been matched?"

"Easy," the man said slapping down a sheet of paper onto his desk before continuing. "The first match up will be the Yamanaka vs Sabaku no Kankuro, not sure how that is going to pan out, really – uh, sorry. Then we have Nara Shikamaru vs Tenten, both Konoha. Aburame Shino vs Rock Lee, and then the last match up is Uzumaki Naruto vs Sabaku no Gaara."

"The-," he said, his voice growing more alarmed, this time though, with concern for the blonde boy.

"Yep, can't choose the match ups, Sensei," he said, voice serious. "I'm sure the kid will be fine. He's more than up to Chunin standard anyway."

He sighed once again, and honestly, he'd done that a few too many times this night alone. There was simply, a bit too much for him to process at the moment. Naruto's matchup with the Sand boy, should be the least of his worries.

Of course, when you factor in a possible invasion by their _allies_, Sand, Orochimaru coming back and marking two Genin, causing the Hyuga heir to lose her status. And couldn't he _wait_ to deal with _that_ backlash from Hiashi. But there was also the genin girl, Haruno, who was on the brink of death – she wasn't going to be able to continue with her carrier, and to high heavens, he hoped the girl wouldn't make _that _hard, but not only that, the boy who had put the girl in that state was going to versus Naruto.

And yes, Naruto. He brought in another mess of having an actual _genie_ doing his bidding. And not an ordinary Genie, no. He'd managed to get one that fought in _wars, _and according to Inochi, had to be powerful enough to grow antlers out of a human's head – and lead a freaking army. To top off to that, he still had to read the reports set from the Demon of the Mist's first mission after officially joining Konoha.

Because S-ranked missing nin, apparently also liked to settle down in Konoha with their damned apprentice, who happened to be the sole survivor of the Yuki bloodline. Which of course, made the council pressure him into forcing the boy to settle down and start having children, despite the fact that they boy was hardly fifteen. There was only so many ways he could continue to block the council in regards to that.

And to make everything even better, the missing book on sealing theory had magically appeared back on the counter at the library, with a single note that said "sorry".

The biggest headache of them all, was that it was written in Hatake's handwriting. And thinking about the silver haired man, he really needed to talk to him about what was going to become of his students. At least for the next month, if they even managed to survive what Anko was going to put them through. He frowned, he really needed to talk to Hatake before she did, because knowing the man, and he'd be here in record time, to throw a fit.

"Someone bring me Hatake Kakashi!" he snapped, breaking whatever Jiraiya had been saying to him. The man's eyes wide, and shocked, at the way the Hokage had suddenly blurted the words out. What had the man even been blabbing on about this time, anyway? He paused for another second.

Almost as if the brief moments of relation were too much for him, suddenly, there was a series of taps on the door, before Jiraiya opened to door to a harried medic. "Sir," she said alarmed, she had looked exhausted, and not for the first time, he wondered what sorts of breaks the Hospital dished out to their staff. "Sir, the Genin Haruno sir, her body went into shock – her mind, we think, can't handle what has happened sir. The girl, uh, we don't think she's going to wake up!"

Fantastic. Now he had a Genin in a freaking Coma. That just topped it off, dully, his eyes slid over the girl, like he couldn't see her. "Try your hardest to wake up the girl. I'll be down in an hour or so."

The medic nodded before scurrying off back to the Hospital. He sighed once more. He couldn't handle all of this anymore, honest to Kami. "Jiraiya, how do you feel about taking the Hokage's hat from me?" 

The man laughed, but his serious expression must have alerted his old student to the fact that for once, he wasn't joking, he was serious. "I'm getting too old to handle the stress of this village," he kept saying. "When I retired the first time, it was for a bloody reason."

"Maybe I can find Tsunade-."

"No," he cut off, voice firm. He did love his errant student, and he did wish, fiercely for her return, but there wasn't any chance that he could trust Konoha in her hands. She was too much of a flight risk, and he understood that. "Tsunade isn't equipped to stay in one place for too long a period of time."

"Kakashi-kun is very powerful," his student said weakly. "And he has a knack for knowing people, how to make alliances, he'd make a great Hokage, I think."

"He'd throw a fit."

"Which would make him a terrifying Hokage indeed," Jiraiya said, voice cordial. "Everyone would be afraid of angering him, least he throw a tantrum like a three year old."

"Are comparing me to a three year old, Jiraiya-sama?" A voice that he'd hardy register uttered, sailing in from the window. The silver haired man smiled, his eye turning into an upside down U, before turning to the Hokage. "You asked to see me, sir?"

"Such a timely appearance, I'm almost worried," he replied, imaging Hatake in the full Hokage uniform, he could see it happen – and he could see it working, and working well, for that matter. "First, the matter of your students. For the next month, Anko, will be teaching the Hyuga and Uchiha how to control their cursed seal."

"I can-."

"You don't have a cursed seal, Kakashi," the Hokage pointed out, trying to ignore the man's ire. He simply shrugged, though he could still feel the man's frustrations. "Your last student has progressed to the last stage of the exam, and really, could use your guidance."

"Was it you who taught him the blackmail thing?" Jiraiya interrupted, eyes suddenly gleeful. "Or that woman?"

"Willow taught him that, I was his first victim," Kakashi explained almost cheerful, even if it had to be false.

Before Jiraiya could continue the conversation, he so obviously wanted to, the Hokage, cut him off once again. Giving both man a glare that clearly stated that they should talk about this in their own time. "Hatake, Naruto is versing the Suna Jinchuuriki. You need to step his training up, for the next month… I don't want to see either of you."

"Fine," he grumbled, his voice bordering on dark. And he felt satisfied, excellent, time to switch to his next topic before he could start complaining about Anko teaching his other students for a month.

"What would you say, if I offered you a promotion?"

"No," Kakashi said instantly, highly aware that he'd already covered each high ranking positions that he could, with being Hokage, at one point in his life. "The paperwork isn't worth it."

"It's one of you two," the Hokage warned, feeling exasperated that neither of his most talented jonin were willing to step up to the plate of being the leader. "And you have till the end of the Chunin Exam to convince me, it should be the other one."

There, he made it a battle. He watched as the two exchanged shocked, but wary stares. Yes, they'd have to convince him that the other ninja was the better candidate. "If you picked me," Kakashi said slowly. "Who would take care of my adorable Genin team?"

"I would of course, what? They'd be Genin for a whole of six months before the next Chunin Exam?" Jiraiya shot back, charmingly. "Who would take over my Spy Network if I became Hokage? Why, we'd lose everything!"

"I could do that," Kakashi tried.

"You stand out like a sore thumb, Hatake," his student replied plainly. "Plus, if I take the Genin team, I also have the time to start training an apprentice to gain the knowledge of my Spy Network, and that could take _years._"

"You can take on an apprentice as Hokage," the Hatake pointed out. "In fact, it's rather encouraged."

"We'd need to be in the field."

Actually, that could solve one of his problems. If he made the Hyuga his apprentice, she wouldn't have to face the shame that her clan was sure to bring her. Though, she did have a rather distinctive appearance, maybe, young Haku would be up to the task? It would get the Council off his back about the boy having children to pass on his Ice Release onto. The more he thought about the second one, the better the idea was becoming. No one would expect such a pretty child, to truly be a Spy Master, and the child could easily pass off as a girl, as he could a boy – to any trained eye.

Something a Spy Master surely needed. With his mind rapidly forming, he decided not to let the two Jonin know of his tentative choice. He'd need to take a leaf out of Naruto's book, and blackmail Jiraiya into taking the Haku boy on as an apprentice, and what better way than making him think it was his only way out of becoming Hokage?

Added to that, if Kakashi was too busy arguing with Jiraiya over the Hokage's hat, he would be less inclined to fight his students being taught by easily, the second most insane person in Konoha. Today, had small pockets of silver lining.

Now he just needed to think of something to do with Naruto's war fighting, big sister figure of a genie. That one, of course, was a tad more difficult than setting his Jonin against one another. Of course, the idea to allow her entrance into Konoha's ranks of ninja, was still his highest priority. What kind of Hokage would he be if he dismissed the knowledge of a two-timed War Winning leader? Even if the girl was a genie?

Not a good one, that was for sure.

* * *

Hiashi POV

The Hyuga Estate

* * *

"Hiashi-sama," the young boy, who was just a few years older than the man's eldest daughter was running up to him, trying to catch him. He frowned as he looked down on the boy, who didn't seem at all happy to be here talking to his Head of Clan. "It's Hinata-sama, Hiashi-sama, she was in the Chunin Exam-."

"I know where my daughter is, you idiot," he snapped, rolling his eyes. "Has she disgraced this clan, once again? How has young Neji done?"

"Neji-san hasn't passed into the final phase of the exam," the boy bowed his head, causing Hiashi to frown. Surely, a genius that parallel's Neji's expertise with the gentle fist was one to be feared, indeed. "By Nara Shikamaru, under Sarutobi Asuma."

Hiashi nodded, the heir of the Nara Clan. Understandable that his nephew was beaten by the Heir of another clan – not that it pleased him. "How did Hinata do then?"

"She's in hospital, Hiashi-sama-," Hiashi's face twisted into a sneer. How pathetic of her. She'd never be able to control the clan with such a nice disposition. The Elder's didn't respect nice, they respected power. As much as he didn't like it, Hinata often chose being kind over being brutal, which wasn't a good quality to rule over so many strong ninja and keep them in line. She needed to grow. "—she… Ah, Orochimaru was in the exam, Hinata-sama was given his Cured Seal, Hiashi-sama…" 

He paled, and considering how pale he already was, this was something. He knew, of course, all about that mans cursed seal. He figured that it had originally been based off their own Cursed Bird Seal. He resisted the urge to swear, loudly and violently. He was, after all, the head of the Clan and couldn't be seen doing such things. "What has happened to her now!?" he hissed, but his words fell short at the sight of a much older ninja approaching him.

Orochimaru was trying to steal the secrets of his Clan, of his _bloodline. _

"Touma-san," he greeted slowly, eyeing the much older man, who bowed lowly in response. Were the Elders of the Clan already knowledgeable of this subject? Had the already decided to hold council?

"Hiashi-sama," the man greeted. "The Elders have called a meeting about Hinata-chan. We convene now."

Hiashi tried not to wince. One did not simply say _no_ to the Elders, not even one whose daughter was in mortal peril. So he simply nodded his head, and followed the older man towards the meeting, that would decide Hinata's fate. Even if none of them even knew what had happened to her, exactly. Or how she'd responded to it. Hadn't Jiraya of the Sannin been working on something that could disable the seal? Like he'd done with the purple-haired disgrace?

They hadn't even given him the chance to visit her. Instead, how was he now expected to go and fight on her behalf, without knowing what was actually happening. Hiashi's lips thinned, his eyes narrowed at the much shorter man, standing by his side. That, of course, would be his first argument when the Clan started to spread their nonsense propaganda.

The fight was only _just_ beginning.

* * *

A/N – major, major changes. Are you happy yet? I'm honestly rather tired that you all keep reviewing saying I'm not changing enough. Yeah, Shikamaru bet Neji, for two reasons, one, morbid amusement, and secondly, major plot points, honestly. **After** the _Chunin Exams_, this goes **full** **AU**, and not much will follow cannon, at all. You've been warned, honestly.

Love all you guys though, and don't forget the little poll through reviews up the top. (P.s Guys, this is officially my most reviewed story, and that's out of all seven of my stories! You guys are so fantastic! As a thank you, this chapter is not only out earlier, but 2K words longer than my usual!)

Yes, yes, by the way – Naruto _is_ going to be meeting his parents (_somewhat). _


	15. Chapter 15

_AsahinaTora_**!**

**Ain't Never Had A Friend Like Me**

**Chapter 15 – ****Uzumaki Legends**

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Beta'd by AsahinaTora. Come on guys, we're still human - and even two of us together still make mistakes. If it helps, we've Tora had picked up over 112 mistakes I've made this chapter. They're doing a great job.

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**A/N – Parings, won't be decided for a few chapters and it won't be random. If it happens to be a homosexual paring between Naruto and another character, sure, I'll put a warning in the summary, if that's what you all want. **

**To keep you up to date (and yes,**** I'm honestly counting), this is where Naruto is at****, at the moment, Ino=6. Tenten=7****. Gaara=5. ****Haku=6. Shikamaru=9****.**

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**Naruto POV**

* * *

Hinata-chan and Sasuke had been shoved into the same room. Sasuke however, had eyes open wide, his lips pursed together, he was glaring at the wall, every few seconds however, his eyes flickered to Hinata, his brows drawing together, like he didn't quite comprehend why the girl wasn't opening her eyes. Naruto entered the room, clearing his throat loudly, and using his knuckles to rap against the door frame.

Sasuke glanced up at him, his face impassive, though his shoulders relaxed minutely. "Naruto," he greeted curtly, before glancing over at Hinata. "She's woken up for five minutes, but not again since then."

"Did they say what's wrong with her?" Naruto found himself saying, meandering into the room, settling himself into the chair by Sasuke's bed, but his body was facing Hinata, and his eyes were gazing towards the slumbering girl.

Sasuke shrugged, his fingers drawing towards his neck, and clutching the part of his skin that was decorated with black marks. Naruto had to resist the urge to shutter. "They said that nine out of ten people can't survive the seal being placed on their body." Sasuke paused, his lips curling, as was his hands into little fists. "Hinata is struggling to fight it off. But, they said that she's lasted longer than other people."

"That says something. She will be, right?" he hated how unsure and worried he sounded. "She has to. She's Hinata-chan."

Sasuke spared him a glance for a few moments, before nodding his head. The two boys allowed the silence to reign over them. Sasuke, ever the bastard wasn't good with communicating, and he knew that. But, the fact that he was even letting Naruto see his worry for the girl, spoke volumes about how he must've been feeling. "Did you pass through?"

"Yeah," Naruto said slowly, his voice turning apologetic. "It was crazy too. That red haired kid from Suna nearly killed Sakura-chan. The fight didn't even last five minutes!"

"Fight?" Sasuke asked, voice curious, but otherwise, he seemed unbothered by the pink haired girl being on her deathbed. After he was finished with his team here, he was going off to see if she was okay. He knew they weren't exactly friends, and his crush on the girl had been to blame for that – but he still felt bad, and he still wanted her to be okay.

"Oh," Naruto was a little bit caught off guard, forgetting that his two teammates weren't aware of the knock-out rounds they'd had after Sensei took them away. "Yeah, they said there were too many genin that passed through. So they match us up, and the winner progressed to the final round."

Sasuke hummed, a flash of displeasure flashing on his face before he sighed and ground out. "Who did you beat?" the boy then proceeded to flinch, and Naruto could see the seal almost pulsing underneath the boy's hand.

"The girl on the Suna team, her name was Temari," Naruto said, concerned about the way Sasuke was gritting his teeth, eyes flashing like he was in pain. "She used a lot of wind jutsu with a fan. So I stole it, and threatened to burn it."

"You don't know any fire jutsu-."

"No," he confirmed, smiling sheepishly. "But you do, and she didn't know that. So I copied what I'd seen you do for that cool fireball thing you do."

Sasuke snorted, before leaning back and resting his eyes. Naruto started to twitch in his seat, was Sasuke going to go to sleep? "I'm not angry with you for taking that match, Naruto," the boy said, utterly shocked the boy into silence. How did he know?! "That girl, Tenten, the one you train with, came in here before and told me. She said you nearly threw the match – and what other reason did you have, other than because we weren't there?"

"I just thought-."

"Shut up," he grouched, opening his eyes to pin Naruto with a dark stare. Naruto himself, just blinked a few times, before settling his face into a pout, and wanted to desperately call the other boy a bastard – because that's what he was, a bastard. "I don't mind, and Hinata won't either – she'll be disgustingly happy. Of course though, if you make Chunin, we're going to spar to prove that no matter how far you've come. I'm still better."

"No, you're not," Naruto snapped, feeling his anger rise. "Bastard."

Rather quietly though, the anger that had been inside him previously began to settle and he heaved a sigh. He wasn't expecting Tenten-chan to actually stop by and talk to Sasuke, nor was he expecting the boy to be okay with the fact he'd lost the chance to become Chunin. "But, don't ya want to be a Chunin?"

"Of course I do, idiot," Sasuke snapped, looking decidedly annoyed that he'd even brought the topic up. "And if it wasn't for this, I knew we'd have all made it. But we didn't. You did. Just try not to make us all look like idiots."

"I- thank you," his voice was soft, and only semi-serious. "The last part of the Exam is in a month, it's a series of matches," he started to explain, watching Sasuke nod his head. "My match is last, but whoever wins, proceeds to the next round. Y'know?"

"You'll be fine," the other boy said. "You've come a long way."

"Did that seal make you nice or somethin'?" Naruto asked suspiciously. "You're being too nice to me."

"Shut it," he said grouchily. "You had to have done something right to get Hinata and I back to the tower by yourself."

"I did get help," Naruto pointed out. "Lee and Tenten and Neji, without them, I wouldn't have been able to fight off that other team that attacked us."

"A team attacked us?" Sasuke sounded rather alarmed, before he settled back down, and shrugged his shoulders. "You would have been fine on your own. I remember on the bridge when – I don't know _what _you did, or what you were using, but it made you unstoppable."

Naruto froze, and he swore his heart stopped beating. "You saw? I mean, you were – I was, you couldn't… I…"

Dark eyes shot him a calculating look. "Hinata and I both saw Naruto, but neither of us knew what you did. You seemed, rather out of it, so we didn't say anything to you."

"The Kyūbi."

"What?"

"I said," Naruto began voice stronger than it had been previously. "I have the Kyūbi sealed inside me, and sometimes, I accidently take its power. Sometimes, it takes control of me."

Sasuke froze, eyes wide, and if the boy had any less class – Naruto would've guessed his mouth would be hanging open. "That explains that then," the boy said, with a smirk. "Knew you couldn't have been that strong on your own."

"I can too!" Naruto cried, but the boy ignored him.

"It also explains why Orochimaru didn't attack you as well. The seals mustn't mesh together well," he mused, rubbing his chin with one of his hands, oddly reminding him of the way Kakashi-sensei would do that. "Did he say anything to you? After he knocked us out?"

Naruto paused, hesitating. "Yeah, he said he would've given me one if he could've too. He said that you and Hinata-chan would search him out, that he'd give you guys power – he said that I'd be welcomed too. But… why would we leave Konoha and everyone cause one guy offered us power?"

Sasuke paused, and a good few moments passed without the boy saying anything. Naruto squirmed in his chair. Unused to being sitting still for long amounts of time. "When I was eight. There were over three hundred Uchiha in Konoha, I had an older brother, who was a Jonin, and a very powerful one at that," he said eventually. Naruto frowned, he thought that Sasuke was the only Uchiha in Konoha? "My older brother, Itachi, killed the entire clan. All three hundred, expect me. I want power, Naruto. And I want a lot of it. I want to kill my brother."

Naruto stayed silent, shocked, and appalled that this had happened. Then, something niggling at the back of his mind that needed to be said, spewed out of his mouth, with no restraint. "Nee-chan, back home, her home," he said quickly, trying to remember that Sasuke didn't know she was from kickarse Genie land. "There was a guy who killed her family, and killed hundreds of other people when she was really young. He said that she killed him in return, but that it didn't end – that it never would. I dunno what she meant by that, but I think she was saying that revenge isn't worth it, or something like that."

Sasuke blinked, obviously, this wasn't the response he was looking for. "That woman, who works at a Ramen Stand, killed a man who murdered her family?"

"Nee-chan would explain it better," Naruto muttered, not knowing how to proceed, or even if she'd be very happy with him for telling Sasuke about her past. "I can ask her to talk to you about it. She can help, I think."

"No," he said, almost instantly. "What I'm trying to say, is that I need power to kill my brother. He was in ANBU. He killed three hundred members of powerful ninja clan. I'd do anything to get enough power to kill Itachi."

"Nee-chan can help you with that," Naruto started to say, voice small, feeling very unsure with the way Sasuke was opening up to him. He hadn't expected any of this. "And, and Sensei was in ANBU too. You could join in my training with Gai-sensei, he's absolutely insane but he's really good at Taijutsu… and there's so many people who can help you!"

"You don't have to convince me to stay in Konoha Naruto," Sasuke said, smirk twinging on his face. "I'll talk to Genie-san when I'm ready."

Honestly, Naruto had to force the relief off his face. Of course, he hadn't expected Sasuke to ever say what the boy had just admitted to, and he still had this suspicion that Sasuke wouldn't talk to nee-chan. What he did know, however, was that Hinata-chan was struggling to survive the stupid seal, and he had two wishes left.

Resolved, Naruto knew that after he visited Sakura-chan to see if she was okay, where he needed to go. Hinata-chan was one of his best friends, even though she was strange, and really shy. With family like the bastard Neji, he could kind of understand why she was so withdrawn in the first place. Glancing back at Sasuke, he briefly wondered if Nee-chan could actually _take _the seal off. She was a Genie, why couldn't she?

* * *

**Willow POV**

* * *

It was a strange tradition, Willow thought, to have a teacher wish the contestants of the Exam from other villages to stay for the final exam. To thank them for coming in the first place. The fact that there were so many people from other villages even involved in this exam, reminded her strongly of the Triwizard Tournament. Even so, the fact that she was allowed to tag along as Iruka performed his duties left her suspicious, but mostly cautious.

What did the Hokage get from allowing her to observe this, underneath the pretence of needing to be 'by her babysitter?' She knew, though, she knew, that this was the Hokage manipulating things. She just didn't understand _why_. It seemed like a massive security breach to allow her this much contact with people from other villages. Willow indirectly knew she was representing Konoha from her position beside Iruka – and the irony was, that she wasn't even from, or knew very much about the place.

"Thank you for coming to the Konoha Exam," he had been saying to this group of Genin, and their teacher. "You are of course, allowed to stay for the final portion of the exam if you so wish."

"That's fine, thank you," the teacher had been saying. Willow's attention began to drift from the expected: "We are expected back. It's been a wonderful opportunity to be inside Konoha."

The man bowed, followed by his students and Willow was getting rather bored with the proceedings. She hadn't ever been very good with all of the politics that was involved when different nations interacted, it was so _boring_. She couldn't wait to be in the position to demand the Hokage never do this to her again. Willow smiled at the group, nodding her head politely as to not offend any of them.

Over the top of one of the genins head, and my, there were many genin in this room. It was teaming with Chunin rejects and she couldn't help but filled with awe with the amount of candidates that Naruto had beaten out. Her eyes, settled on a girl with bright red hair, a few shades darker than hers, and streamlined glasses. What had caught her eye, however, was the strange way she was staring at her.

Willow smiled at the girl, unsure, and turned her head to Iruka, who had just disengaged with that team, and was searching for the next one. He turned to her, and before she could say anything, he cut her off. "I'm sorry, Willoo-san, this must be rather tedious of you," he said, sounding rather apologetic. "I tried to talk the Hokage into letting someone else handle this, but he insisted that you were to attend this as well."

Willow shrugged. "Not your fault," she reasoning, making a note in her mind to yell at someone for this. She'd more likely yell at Kakashi, she didn't know how the Hokage would respond to that. Then again, he was the one putting her in this position… "I'm just rather bored."

He nodded again, this time with a small smile. "Of course, I understand. It'll be over in a few hours. Hello," he said, breaking off his conversation with her to smile at another team. "Thank you, for coming to this year's Chunin Exam, we hope you've enjoyed your time in Konoha – and stay for the final portion of the exam."

"Thank you, ah," the man looked over at him, his team, which included the redhead who was still eyeing her curiously. It must have been the hair, she reasoned, red hair wasn't very common here. Kakashi had said this himself.

"Umino Iruka," he said with an easy smile, before the other man glanced down at her, Iruka's gaze following his before he smiled. "And Uzumaki Willoo."

Uzumaki? She snorted, had the Hokage told him bullshit about her being an Uzumaki? Or had he just assumed, given that Naruto often added 'big sister' after her name every time. Before she could open her mouth to alter what he'd said, the Sensei closed his eyes, and let out a sigh.

"Uzumaki!?" the red-haired girl chirped, her eyes wide, and jaw gaping. Her teammates were looking between them rapidly. "I thought…I thought I was the only one left! We're family! Uzumaki Karin," she introduced brightly, a little gleam off her headband that had a mutated M on it momentarily blinding her.

"Ah, I'm not-."

"After the destruction of Uzu, my mother barely survived and fled towards Kusagakure," the girl tapped her headband. Willow took that to mean that Kusagakure was some sort of place. "I haven't met anyone else who survived. Sensei, we really should stay in Konoha for the next part of the Exam!"

"Karin," the tall man cut through, his beady eyes glancing down at the girl – even if his expression was resigned. "We were expected to go straight back if we were to fail in the exam."

"But," she spluttered, her own crimson eyes (what an unusual colour, she mused) flashing with passion, a desire. With a jolt, Willow realised that this girl being an Uzumaki, would be related to Naruto. A cousin of sorts. "Think about how much more about my Uzumaki Clan abilities I'll be able to _understand _by learning from an older Uzumaki!"

Willow opened her mouth once again, ready to dissuade the girl from thinking she could teach her anything about her heritage, when she snapped her mouth shut again. Actually, she could easily learn about Uzumaki heritage, all she had to do was summon an Uzumaki to tell her. Well that, and this would be the perfect excuse for her to use to be able to tell Naruto about his mother, at very least.

Plus, if she came clean to the young girl, Naruto might lose the chance to actually get to know someone that might be part of his family. After all she had said Uzumaki Clan, and that was sort of like a family, wasn't it? "Karin…"

"You are, of course, welcome to stay in Konoha till the end of the third portion of the exam," Iruka repeated again, his interested gaze falling on the young pale girl, who was in the process of looking up at Willow, utter admiration in her gaze.

The teacher from the group sighed, and nodded his head. "Thank you, Unimo-san. We will have to take you up on this offer."

"Yes!" Karin had been cheering, much to the bemusement of Willow. "I can't wait to get to know you, Wiloo-nee!"

The girl, reminded her oddly of Naruto, it was the way her eyes shone, and the utter glee in the words she spoke. Or it might have been the way she was bouncing in one spot, unable to keep still, like a child on a sugar high. "It's Wi-ll-ow," she corrected to start off with, not knowing exactly how to react to this.

"Willoo?"

"No," she tried again, ignoring the amusement around her. And ignoring the fact that Karin's team left her by her side, or the fact that Iruka was already moving on to the next team. "It's an –ow sound. Not a –oo."

"He didn't say it with an –ow sound," Karin muttered glancing over at the man with a brown haired ponytail, her voice turning rather petulant with the way she was butchering her name. "Can anyone even say your name right, Willoo-nee?"

Her shoulders slumped, and wondered, more liked hoped – that she wasn't becoming another big sister figure to another excitable brat. Why did these things keep happening to her? It was like the universe knew she wanted to leave, so it kept throwing things she'd always wanted at her.

Family. Two siblings. A bunch of friends. No wars to fight in. All that she needed now was some parents, and a massive house – where she under no certain conditions, had to do any gardening.

Willow frowned, Merlin, she hated gardening. The rest of her vision wouldn't ever happen however, and she'd never be 'just Willow', like she'd always wanted to be either. She wanted to be in England. With Ron and Hermione.

"Not really, no," she replied after leaving the silence a bit too long. She was frowning, but not because of her name. Several things had started to line up in her mind, and they all started with this little red-haired girl in front of her. "It's rather unique."

The girl nodded her head, eager to agree with her, a childish grin, and pink stained cheeks as she looked up at her. Another novel experience, but she had no worry that the girl wouldn't eventually grow taller than her. "Did your parents have unique names too? Are they in Konoha too? Are there many more Uzumaki here?"

Willow let out of deep breath she had been unaware she'd been holding. Her green eyes peering out to find where Iruka had gotten off too. The man, had drifted off and was conversing with one of the many ninja in the room – more than likely, already saying the words she'd come to know so well. Willow frowned again, her eyes glued to his form, momentarily forgetting the little girl next to her.

Why had he gone off on his own, when he was there to babysit her? And why, when he'd been so insistent that she was near him at all times – was he suddenly letting her stand in the middle of the room, with a foreign ninja. Hadn't the fact that he was her babysitter indicated to him that he wasn't completely trusted? "Willoo-nee? Are you okay? I'm sorry for bringing it up!"

Her attention broken, her gaze returned to the Uzumaki next to her. Ah, she'd forgotten momentarily that she had been in a conversation with the young girl. "No, no, I was just caught up in my thoughts," she tried to assure the girl. The worried look didn't move very far off her face. "My parents were named James and Lily. They're… gone. There is however, another Uzumaki in Konoha. You'll met him soon, I guess."

The girl was practically buzzing with the news of another Uzumaki, only briefly paused to mumble a sheepish. "Jēmuzu? Ririi? Sorry, my mother is dead too," she bowed her head in solace momentarily before her head shot up, with a wide grin replacing the sadness. "I can't wait to meet Nii-san!"

Her parent's names sounded even more buttered than hers did. Older brother, huh? Would Naruto be the older one, or would she? Naruto, who was on the brink of 13? It was about two months shy of the little devils birthday, actually. How old was this girl? "I don't know about that. How old are you?"

"Twelve," she responded stoutly, "and six months."

So Naruto was the older one, but a mere four months. How ironic. Willow visibly shuddered. How would Naruto react to being called 'Big Brother'? She felt the blonde boy would go crazy with overprotective power. Naruto a big brother… Merlin. "Naruto _is _older. Only by a few months though."

"Naruto-nii-san!" she chirped, happy to finally have a name attached to the Uzumaki unknown to her. "It's got a ring to it, don't it?"

"Indeed," she responded dryly. "Let's sit, I don't think Iruka expects me to escort him around anymore. Merlin knows why."

"Who's Mer-Lin?" she asked curiously, nodding her head in accent and following the older red head to a row of seats, where half were already occupied by chatting teams – all talking about their recent failures. The students looking down, and suitably chastised by their teachers. "Are you a ninja, nee-chan?"

"He's kind of like a god, I guess," she responded. "Not really. More of a…renegade civilian with violent tendencies."

She was absolutely certain this was something Kakashi had called her, but, what fits did fit.

* * *

**Naruto POV**

* * *

After walking in on a prone looking Sakura, and realising that like Hinata-chan, the girl wasn't waking up – Naruto switched his focus onto locating Nee-chan. Of course, his first port of call was to go back home, but she wasn't there. He had then, of course, checked with Zabuza and Haku, but she wasn't in their apartment either. Though, Zabuza had sneakily said something about a teacher and an affair. An affair on what, the man wouldn't say, so Naruto of course, decided to go to where most teachers went, the Academy.

Of course, Naruto hadn't anticipated the room being filled with people from the Chunin Exam that hadn't passed. Glancing over his shoulder at one of the older teens that had been glaring at him when he entered the room, feeling like he should remember this guy, he finally spotted Iruka-sensei. With a grin, and a strange sense of foreboding, he ran over to his favourite Academy Instructor.

"Iruka-sensei!" he called, bounding up towards his old teacher, completely ignoring the group of ninja the man was talking too, and ignoring the shocked looked that crossed the man's face. "How are you!?"

"I'm good, Naruto," the man stated calmly, shooting an apologetic look towards the man who he had been talking to. The man, as polite a he was, just huffed and walked away, carting his students with him. Naruto had no idea that Konoha actually let all these rejects stay! "How has the exam been treating you?"

"I made it to the last round," Naruto revealed, with a grin. "Only one in my team actually. Now all I need is for the bastar—I mean, Kakashi-sensei to train me properly, and everything will be great!"

Iruka chucked at his small slip up, ruffling the hair atop his head gently. "You certainly have come very far Naruto. I'm proud of you."

Beaming with the praise, he couldn't help but let a sheepish grin take over his face. "Thanks Iruka-sensei! Hey, hey have you seen a lady with bright red hair, and green eyes?" Naruto asked suspiciously. With a smile, his old teacher nodded, and gestured towards the back, where at a small table Nee-chan sat next another girl with equally red hair, and a strange headband on. "Thanks Iruka-sensei!" Naruto repeated before barrelling his way over to the duo.

Naruto wondered why Nee-chan was even talking to Genin from other countries. Willow-chan glanced up at him before he could even reach the two, and she smiled at him, a full one, showing off her white teeth. The girl his age looked up too, once she realised the woman she was talking too had shifted her attention. The girl eyed him suspiciously, and Naruto puffed his chest out.

That girl shouldn't be looking at him strangely when she was the one that didn't even know Willow-chan. Not him! "Naruto! You're back," a grin curled amongst her features, her pretty eyes scanning him for injuries. "Met Karin."

This girl, Karin, had bright red hair and even brighter red eyes. Those eyes in fact, who were eyeing him like she would rather he just go away. Naruto frowned. "Er, yeah, hi," he said lamely. "Willow-nee-chan, I need your help. It's _important_."

"Nee-chan? Are you an Uzumaki too? Wait! Are you Naruto!?" Karin asked.

Huh? "Yeah," Naruto responded voice suspicious. "What's it to you? Nee-chan, I really need your help. It's Hinata-chan."

"I'm an Uzumaki too! Uzumaki Karin!" The girl beamed, before frowning. "Who is Hinata? Is she an Uzumaki too?!"

Naruto shook his head, eyes wide as he took in the girl who shared his last name – did he, was she part of his family? Like a cousin or something!? Shaking his head, he focused on Hinata again. "No, she's my team mate. She got really hurt in the second portion of the exam and she won't wake up," Naruto didn't even bother to hide how the anxiety was colouring his tone. "Nee-chan, you can make her wake up, right!? With your, y'know, G stuff?"

Willow was frowning, before looking up at Iruka, before looking back at him. "You know it doesn't work that way Naruto. I said I can't affect physical being. That, and I can't leave here until everyone else does."

"But Nee-chan!" Naruto began to protest, her words from when he had first met her coming back to haunt him. She had said she couldn't influence his body in any way, shape or form.

"I-I can help."

Naruto turned to look at Karin with eyes as wide as saucepans. "Can you really Karin-chan!?"

Karin nodded her head, hesitantly. "Just take me to her. Us Uzumaki woman are blessed with healing chakra," she broke off slowly. Naruto's eyes were wide. How many Uzumaki were there? Was he really related to such cool people!? Karin was looking at Willow-chan, like waiting for confirmation. Willow nodded her head slowly, unsure. "If… if it's not too serious… I should be able to help."

"Ya think you can help Sakura-chan too!?" he asked brightly. For a girl from another country, she seemed pretty cool. Well that, and she was an Uzumaki too! How cool! The younger redhead hesitated for a second before smiling firmly, and giving him a timid nod –which contrasted greatly with how strong her facial expression was.

Nee-chan put a comforting hand on Karin-chan's shoulder, and left her with a tight lipped smile. This was Willow-chan's 'I'm planning this really amazing plan, just you wait', sort of smile. "If you'd like to come over for dinner later, I'm sure Naruto here can show you where we live."

What was she even planning? With a shrug, Naruto realised this didn't even matter, what did matter – was this girl helping out Hinata-chan! And Sakura-chan! With an over-eager smile, he gestured to the door, eyes bright. "Can we go now, Karin-chan? Or do ya have to wait a little bit, though, Hinata-chan really does need your help right now, dattebayo."

The girl with shoulder length red hair shook her head slowly, looking at him with wide eyes, the same colour as her hair. She was rather pretty, in a sister sort of way. If anything, she sort of reminded him of Willow-nee, even if it was only because of the colour of her hair. "My Sensei and team have already gone back to our hotel, they need to extend our stay over the Exam Break period," Karin-chan said slowly, glancing over at Nee-chan, who gave her a comforting sort of smile. "I should be able to go and help your friends now. Ah, Willoo-nee?"

Naruto grimaced at how the girl said the Genie's name wrong, but didn't make a move to correct her. Nee-chan after all didn't seem very bothered with the way everyone butchered her name. "Go on, go on," she said warmly. "I have to stay here – uh, other duties call. But I'll be seeing you two for dinner."

"Other duties? What other duties? You don't _have_ any duties!" Naruto fired out in rapid succession, his face contorting into a confused sort of look. "I didn't think you had any friends?"

"Ouch, Naruto, that hurts," Willow-chan said, rolling her eyes. "Important G business. Now, don't you have a few teammates to help, huh?"

Yeah, to help Hinata-chan! Before Naruto could really grasp what he was doing, and think about it properly, he lunged over and grabbed the other Ninja's hand, and pulled her out of the door. He turned his head to shout goodbye to Nee-chan, then broke out into a run towards the hospital. The two Genin had run as fast as they could, until they reached the doors of the hospital, and Naruto expertly guided her in, and towards Sasuke and Hinata's shared room.

Naruto only froze when he was about to enter the door, to look back at the glasses clad girl with a sheepish grin. "I'm sorry for whatever Sasuke-baka says to you," he shrugged his shoulders at the way her eyebrow rose. Secretly jealous that yet another person could raise their eyebrows that wasn't him. Before she could respond with the question that was obviously on her mind, Naruto pushed the door open.

Walking through, he got the full force of the Uchiha's glare, which softened somewhat, when he saw the head full of blonde hair, with the blinding orange jumpsuit. His eyebrow too, started to rise when the redheaded Karin entered behind him, when her eyes connected with Sasuke, she blushed bright red. Naruto tried not to groan, his maybe-cousin and most definite family member already had a crush on Sasuke?

What was so good about the Uchiha that made all the girls go crazy? "Sasuke," Naruto greeted, getting the boy's dark eyes to snap back towards him. "This is Karin-chan, she's an Uzumaki too. She's gonna try and help Hinata-chan."

Sasuke's lip curled upwards, his eyes moving to take the other girl in, before giving the two a flat stare that didn't bother to hide how stupid he thought they were being. "Naruto. I doubt your _family member_ can do anything when all the trained medics in Konoha can't even wake Hinata up."

"She can too," Naruto protested, preferring the way that his cousin (cause that's totally what she was)'s cheeks suddenly went back to their pale shade. There, Sasuke wasn't so great when he opened his mouth, was he? "Shut up. Show him Karin-chan!"

"Uzumaki females have the ability to heal people with their charka, and blood," Karin explained slowly, now ignoring Sasuke, and moving towards the pale, dark haired girl in the bed. Karin-chan placed a hand over Hinata's, before brushing a few strands of hair out of her clammy face. "All that needs to happen, is for whoever is injured to bite me – and nearly every injury can be healed as a result."

"She's unconscious, and can't bite you," Sasuke pointed out, rather rudely, eyes narrowed at the redhead. "And that all seems rather convenient if you ask me."

Before Naruto could open her mouth to argue with Sasuke, the door banged open to reveal a cheerful and yet hidden smiling face. "Don't be too quick to judge my adorable little student," the man warned, wagging his finger in front of his face as he casually leaned against the doorframe, his one good eye peering at Karin-chan. She started to fidget uncomfortably. "You can never know what clan jutsu's are capable of. What you can question however, is…?" he railed off leadingly.

Naruto frowned and crossed his arms, not at all liking the direction that Sensei was taking this in. If Karin could help Hinata-chan then why shouldn't they let her? "She's a foreign ninja, and Hinata is the Heiress of the Hyuga clan?" Sasuke said, voice bland. "It could have several political backlashes."

Kakashi-sensei's only visible eye curved into an upside down U, as he moved his body into the room, slowly closing the door behind him, before leaning against the closed door instead. "Exactly," Sensei praised, his voice already sounding like it was beaming. "Good job Sasuke, I'm glad to see the seal hasn't dulled your brain," he complimented, before turning to Naruto, and the girl standing next to him. "But, Naruto you should get the chance to explain what you were thinking."

"Nee-chan said it was a good idea," Naruto shrugged his shoulders, knowing whatever he could come up with – that was going to be the best response. Sensei raised an eyebrow, and Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "But seriously, Sensei. Karin-chan is an Uzumaki and she has the healing bite thing, that female Uzumaki have and she can help Hinata-chan."

"Never heard of it," Kakashi admitted freely, his eye flashing with some sort of emotion at the sound of Nee-chans' possible involvement. "An Uzumaki you say?"

Karin-chan nodded her head earnestly. "Yes, uh, Jonin-san. My mother escaped the destruction of Uzu when I was a small child, not knowing there were any more Uzumaki left, we settled in Kusagakure. That's when I met Willoo-nee a few hours ago, and realised I wasn't the only one left," she paused for a moment, her red eyes growing large behind her narrow glasses. "I promise I have no underlying motives other that the desire to help others from my Clan."

Karin bowed her head at the man, and Naruto couldn't help but grin at the girl – she was so cool, and nice. He couldn't believe someone so cool, and nice was related to him! And he had a Clan! Not much of one, he mused, if they'd all died. But that might explain why he was all alone, with no family! Not because they hadn't wanted him, but because his Clan was hunted and then killed!

"Hatake Kakashi," he greeted in response to her unasked question. "You can just call me Kakashi, everyone else already does. You see, I want to believe you, I really do. But that's my cute little student right there, and I'm not about to let Naruto's judgement of character anywhere near my student."

"Hey!" Naruto protested, only to be cut off by his teacher, who had apparently, not finished, because the man simply held up his hand.

"And as admirable as your sentiment is, what has inflicted Hinata-chan can't be done away with. Her issues, reside within a seal, and only she can fight that," he said, his voice turning oddly gentle. "There's nothing any of us can do about it. But, we are all very interested in hearing about your Uzumaki heritage."

Karin nodded her head, looking somewhat down and Naruto felt really bad. He was the one who asked her to help him, after all. Naruto placed a comforting hand on Karin's shoulder. "Sorry, Karin-chan. I just really wanted Hinata-chan to get better. You'll… still come to dinner tonight, right?"

Karin smiled, not looking overly bothered by Naruto's apology, and simply smiled in response. "Of course I will! I can't wait to get to know you and Willoo-nee!"

A rather petulant sigh rang out from the door, and he turned his head to face his still smiling Sensei. Did the man ever not smile? He was so strange. "What?" Naruto snapped.

"I was just going to talk to you about your training for the next month until the next round, I heard you bet your opponent, good job Naruto," the man said, voice cheerful. "And since Sasuke and Hinata were knocked out, I've had to arrange for someone else to teach them whilst I'm all busy with you."

"You're teaching me personally," Naruto gasped, before he frowned. "Can you be bothered teaching me properly? Because I think I might rather whoever your sticking Sasuke with."

Kakashi-sensei placed a hand over his heart, like he was almost offended by the words he'd uttered. Naruto knew he wasn't. Sensei was just overdramatic – and childish, and that was coming from him. Sasuke on the other hand, was frowning at Sensei. "I don't want to be handed over to some idiot-."

"Did someone say Anko-sensei!?" a loud, female voice yelled, but Naruto had no idea where it was coming from. That of course, was until he registered the sound of shattering glass, and his gaze got caught by the crazy lady from the second portion of the exam.

"No one said anything," Naruto pointed out, frowning at the broken glass all over the floor. That was pretty dangerous considering if Hinata had been by the window, she wouldn't have been able to escape. "I think you need to get your hearing checked."

Kakashi-sensei let out a noise that could have been a short bark of laughter, an uncomfortable cough, or a sarcastic grunt. Anko frowned at him, eyes narrowed, before she turned to Sensei, wide smile on her face, her expression twisting into something more likable, as she ignored Naruto.

The blonde boy already didn't like the woman. One, she ignored him and two, she had that look on her face that was similar to the ones that Sasuke's fangirls would have – but it was directed at Sensei, and the thought of that nauseated him. "Kakashi-kun," she greeted with a warm sort of smile. Naruto took glee into noticing that Sensei looked decidedly uncomfortable.

That's what Kakashi-sensei got for being such a perverted bastard all the time. "Mitarashi-san," he greeted, his voice sounding more awkward than he'd ever heard it before. Man, Sensei was useless when girls talked to him. Naruto frowned. Could he not tell that crazy lady Anko was flirting with him? Even Naruto could tell! "I have yet to inform Sasuke of whom he'd be training with."

"Oh," he paused, looking momentarily sheepish. "Always jumping the gun. Sure glad I didn't have a banner this time. Allow me," she paused before opening her arms wide, like she expected to receive a hug, and she looked up at the roof, whilst proclaiming; "Sasuke, Hinata, it's time to meet me – your Sensei for the next month. Together we will fight through many trials! Support your willpower! And expand your horizons-!"

"Hinata's knocked out," Sasuke deadpanned, before looking back towards Kakashi-sensei, ignoring the annoyed look that had passed over the purple-haired lady's gaze at being interrupted. "Kakashi-sensei, you aren't leaving me with this idiot are you? She's even more dim-witted than Naruto."

"Don't call Naruto-nii-san dim-witted," Karin-chan snapped, glaring at the boy. The blonde haired kid just gazed at the other Uzumaki with shock? Naruto-nii-san? Yeah, he could get used to that. He could be a brother. A big brother! How cool would that be?! And Karin would be his little sister! He finally got to be the older sibling! He'd take care of Karin-chan, believe it!

Anko, also didn't like to be ignored because she threw a kunai at Sasuke's head, which he narrowly dodged, glaring at the woman with equal amounts of heat that she was glaring at him with. "Shut up! You don't have a choice!" she shouted smugly. Her loud voice ringing around his ears, she was pointing at him like he was the bane of her existence. "The Hokage himself has assigned you to me, so you better just like it!"

"That is true, Sasuke," Kakashi agreed, and Naruto's head snapped to his Sensei, before glancing back at Sasuke, then at the crazy lady. "You are just going to have to like it."

Sasuke huffed, folding his arms over his chest, before settling back into his hospital bed. Anko grinned, a large sort of smile, her teeth showing a bit too much for Naruto to be comfortable with. "You can like my company too if you like, Kakashi-kun," she smiled in this strange sort of way at Sensei. Naruto gagged. Who is their right mind would find Sensei attractive?

Ew. Only a crazy person would. Well, Anko certainly was crazy. So that made sense. His silver haired teacher just rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, leaning further into the wall behind him, before gesturing over to Naruto and Karin, but in hindsight, it was probably just Naruto. "I have my adorable little student to train for the foreseeable future. Perhaps, some other time."

"Tonight, maybe?" she pressed, staking a few steps forward. Having completely forgotten about the fact that she was meant to be training Sasuke and Hinata. Naruto turned his head to the side, to exchange alarmed, and incredulous looks with Sasuke.

"Ah," he paused, looking even more alarmed than they had. "Actually. I have a – a, um. Meeting with the Hokage. Got to go," and with that parting phrase, he disappeared from the room in a cloud of smoke. Naruto frowned at the same time Anko did.

But when Anko just muttered a quick; 'Damn, maybe next time.' Naruto shook his fist in the air, and shouted. "You never told me when and where we were training, you bastard-sensei!"

The room stilled, and Anko was suddenly grinned again, leering down on Sasuke. "Tomorrow morning. Five am. I'll come and find you. Hinata-chan can join us when she awakes!" with that, she flung herself through the already broken window, and plummeted to the ground.

"Do you think she's okay?" Karin asked, moving out from behind Naruto, her voice suddenly a whole lot more timid than it had been previously. The red head moved towards the window sill, slowly because of all the shattered glass, and peered over the edge.

Sasuke snorted. "I hope not," he rolled his eyes, before sharing a meaningful look with the blonde boy. Naruto snorted as well.

"I can't believe she has a crush on Kakashi-sensei," Naruto blurted out, finally admitting to his trauma.

"She's insane," Sasuke replied evenly. "It makes sense."

"I don't know," Karin chimed in, a small smile, wickedly splaying over her face, turning back to face the two boys still in the room. "I think Kakashi-san is rather cute."

"What!?" Naruto yelled, causing Sasuke to wince with how loud he was being. "Kakashi-sensei is so old, and uncool – and a massive pervert!"

"…You only say that because he flirts with Genie-san."

With an illegible yell, Naruto fell to his knees, and started muttering nasty insults. Damn Sasuke. Damn Kakashi-sensei and damn that crazy lady Anko! "Who's Genie-san? Is that your girlfriend Naruto-nii-san?"

Naruto's face scrunched up with distaste and stuck his tongue out like he was going to be sick. "No! That's disgusting," he spluttered, ignoring the way Sasuke's eyebrow rose. "That's Willow-chan. Her nickname is Genie!" he lied, wondering what he'd done to be caught in such a web of lies.

"Her real name isn't Genie?" Sasuke muttered, sounding annoyed. "I thought the name sounded stupid. Why did you give us a stupid nickname, you idiot."

"Shut up!" Naruto yelled again, now back on his feet, and his face glowing red.

"Not that Wiloo isn't an odd name as it is," Sasuke finished musing, and amused expression on his face.

"It's Wi-ll-ow, not Wiloo you bastard!" Naruto snapped. "It's an –ow not an –oo!"

Karin broke out in a fit of giggles. "You know," she muttered, giving him a sly smile, with bright eyes, even though they were hidden beneath her glasses. "Even though you and Willoo-nee don't look very much alike. You certainly act very alike."

Naruto was taking that as a compliment. He beamed at the girl, and thanked for before freezing again. "You think you could heal Sakura-chan, even if you couldn't help Hinata-chan?"

The red head smiled, much more at ease with the request the second time he'd asked her. "Of course, just lead the way!"

Before the two could exit the room, Sasuke was up again, surprisingly, dressed in his normal wear – and not a gown. "Wait, I'm coming too. It's boring here," he added on the end, looking rather defensive at Naruto's surprised look. "And I'm curious about this 'healing bite' thing she claims to have."

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A/N – Okay, let me have my explanation before I get a dozen reviews about it.

1.) Karin. Yeah, she's for sure, going to become a more permeate fixture. And Kakashi not letting her use her 'Heal Bite', honestly, because I don't think it would've worked on the cursed Seal, and Kakashi agreed with me.

2.) Anko having a wee little crush on Kakashi. Having Kakashi, an eligible and powerful Jonin, even if you couldn't see his face – is bound to have people crushing on him because of his power. Doesn't Anko seem like someone who would be attracted to power? _Doesn't_ she? (EDIT – I DO NOT INTEND THIS TO BE BASHING OF ANKO IN ANY KIND. IT'S IN HER PERSONALITY TO BE LOUD AND BRASH!)

3.) Hinata will wake up soon. Don't worry about that.

4.) I got my first Troll Review, I think. It doesn't make very much sense to me – but I felt like this was a compliment in a very strange way. I'm finally good enough to attract mindless trolls – hooray! (No sarcasm intended ;) .)


	16. Chapter 16

**Ain't Never Had A Friend Like Me**

**Chapter 16 – Parents, Friends and wondering ghosts**

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**A/N – Yo. So on parings. I think we can safely say that Gaara and Haku have both been knocked out. Sad, I know. What we have now however, is a very chose 3-way battle. I've got little side-plots and unique twists already planned for each one. Honestly, at this point, I could happily do any of them. I struggle to choose, because they all have their personality benefits/drawbacks, and all their story lines that I've chosen make me want to pick them. **

**So far, we have Tenten in the lead with 26 points, followed narrowly by Shikamaru with 17, who is only very narrowly beating Ino with 14.**

**REST ASSURED, each paring comes with their own complications and introductions. It won't be random, and nothing will just 'jump out' at you. It's not that scary. Love you guys. **

**Other than that, I joined Tumblr, I'm not really sure how it works but I'm getting there. Follow me, I'll follow all you guys back! Ask questions about this fic you want answered over there too, that way I can publish the answers for everyone else that wants the same answers: my name on there is; Akari-chaan . **

**Uhm, and about Kushina's Sensei's and stuff. I know it's not right, but in this story, I've made it like that. This is an AU, so I feel like I'm allowed to change small things from the past like that – I'm sure I'm allowed to. Timelines are also had to follow, especially when Kakashi's graduation/promotion age doesn't line up with the overall plot. So, I'm just making him younger than Obito and Rin. Honestly, a few years won't matter, really.**

**Oh, and it's come to my attention that a lot, and I mean heaps of you aren't exactly liking the pace of this. It's really slow, and it takes forever for something to happen. Even if I spend six chapters hinting at it. I would just like to say sorry on that behalf, and then continue to say, I don't typically write many fast-paced things. I've tried, and it typically either ends up as choppy, and not very good to read. It's gonna be slow paced. Sorry.**

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**Hinata POV**

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Hyuga Hinata wasn't an idiot, nor was she weak, or meek. Not anymore at least. Kakashi-sensei had helped her more than the man would ever realise. He'd forced her to speak up, to speak her mind, and he forcibly showed her what a strong and capable Konochi she could be. Not could be, she reminded herself, was. So when the traitorous Orochimaru took a bite out of her neck, she'd been left weak and helpless.

She's woken up in a hospital room, days after she'd originally been given the seal, and had it re-sealed by Kakashi-sensei. If she was quite honest, Hinata would admit to beginning to worship Kakashi-sensei. He was just, well, _amazing_, simply put. At first, she'd been unsure of the man – he seemed perpetually tardy, a bad liar, lazy and like he couldn't care less about any of them. The only saving grace she had in those early days was the fact that she'd been partnered with Naruto – bright, open, cute, Naruto.

Sure, he was a little dense sometimes, but, the boy was still her crush. Still the one who made her heart race, and her cheeks constrict with heat. In those early days, she couldn't even string a sentence together when she was in his presence. Her cheeks would go horribly red, her eyes would become unfocused, her breathing would turn erratic – and her words blurred together. Not anymore, and that was thanks to Kakashi-sensei. Bringing it back to her in present time, Hinata awoke to a room, empty from all – except her Sensei, who she so whole heartedly respected and looked up to.

He didn't seem too thrilled that she'd awoken however, and judging from the tightness of her muscles, she'd been asleep for a few days. "Kakashi-sensei," she rasped, before she froze, hands cupping her neck – unsure as to why her throat was so dry and parched. The silver-haired man gave her his signature eye-smile, before he gestured to the glass of water sitting beside her bed.

Hinata leaned over and careful picked the delicate glass up before taking a few sips, and allowing the glass to lower until it was practically in her lap before she frowned. "What are you doing here, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Can't I come and wait for my adorable student to wake up from a deadly coma?" he asked, voice rhetorical, so she just stayed silent, and allowed the man to continue. "No? Alright. You saw right through that, didn't you, Hinata-chan?" Hinata nodded, but still didn't say a word.

Kakashi-sensei sighed, and ran a hand through his hair, the frustration he was feeling was something that the blue-haired girl could actually feel. "You know that Orochimaru has branded you with his seal," he paused for a second, giving her enough time to form a grimace and nod. "For the next month, you and Sasuke are training with the only woman in Konoha who has successfully beaten the seal."

"That doesn't sound so bad, Kakashi-sensei."

"Wait till you meet her," he muttered under his breath, and Hinata rose an eyebrow. Surely, someone who managed to beat the seal that she could feel pulsating on her neck, was someone who deserved her respect. But how could she respect someone her idol, Kakashi-sensei, wouldn't? Hinata wasn't sure when Kakashi-sensei's thoughts and feelings became the most important to her.

She cared more about earning Kakashi-sensei's respect than she did her own father. That could be because he believed in her more often than her father did. He always had a nice word, and a sharp retort if he thought she wasn't treating herself properly. Hinata absolutely adored Kakashi-sensei, and she was so glad to whichever kami that had allowed her to be placed on his team.

"That's not the point," Kakashi muttered again, trying to hide the way his eye was twitching. But Hinata could see right through that. She wasn't aware if Kakashi-sensei knew, but he had this odd way of expressing all his emotions through his eye. Secretly, this is why she thought he wore the mask – because he had such expressive features, and that wasn't good in any sort of fight.

Especially not the political ones. "The point is your Clan, Hinata-chan."

The lavender-eyed girl's gentle smile dropped off her face. She had known, objectively, that they would have a problem with having a seal on her body. She felt her shoulders tense, and tears gather in her eyes before she forced them down. Kakashi-sensei would not see her be weak, he would not see her cry. "What is it then? Have I been cast aside as Heiress? Have I…I been kicked out of the Clan? Disowned?!"

By the end of her questioning, she was afraid that she was sounding rather hysterical and the hands that were holding the glass in front of her were shaking badly. So badly in fact, that the water was starting to spill over the edge, and stain on the white linen of the hospital sheets. Hinata glanced down at her hands, and willed them to stop shaking – Kakashi-sensei didn't need to see her like this. He'd trained her better than to breakdown over this…

A pair of gloved hands covered her own, and stopped the water from spilling over the edge. Hinata glanced up at the one eyed man, giving him enough time to take the glass away, and set in on the table it had originally been. He then retracted his hands, making no move to touch her again.

"Hinata-chan," he began softly, before pausing, obviously considering several things at once. "The council, and Hokage have both been informed that your little sister Hanabi will be the Heiress apparent of the Hyuga Clan."

He froze, for a second, not saying a word. Hinata felt numb, she hadn't even had the chance to fight for herself. Because of this seal, because of Orochimaru, she was stripped of the right? Had she even wanted to lead the Clan? No. She always knew, in her mind, in her heart – that her little sister would do a much better job. But she was going to try, that was always her goal – to be the best leader she could be. She didn't even have that anymore?

"Hinata-chan," Kakashi-sensei said, once again, gaining her waning attention. "Now this is serious. I need you to listen to me, okay?"

"Okay."

"We've both once been put in a very similar position," he explained, and her eyebrows sky rocked. What on earth could he mean by that!? "When I was five, I became the last of my Clan. I was put in the position that allowed the Council to make all my choices for me. I was no longer protected by my father. They could force me into any engagement that they wanted. I could have been stripped of my right to become a Ninja, least I damage the right to produce more from my bloodline. Are you following?"

He'd said that last bit urgently, but Hinata was still wide-eyed by her Sensei's admissions. He had a Clan? He was the last surviving member? And at five no less! "In this situation, my Council is my family, isn't it? It's the Hyuga Clan."

Kakashi-sensei nodded his head, oddly seriously. Hinata blanched. She hadn't considered that without being the Heiress, and not exactly showing much talent in the Ninja Arts – and having a Caged Seal on her neck, she would be forced to retire as a ninja. Of course, she had known about such things to happen. Her own mother, was forced to retire by the Council when she hadn't made Chunin by the age of sixteen.

They had said she wasn't suited to the life of war, and was better suited to raise a new generation of Hyuga. She'd married her father six months later. Was that what was to become of her? Her lower lips trembled, and she could feel the hot tears streaming down her face – for once, not caring that she was openly crying in front of her role model. She had no chance.

"Hinata, Hinata, look at me." She wrenched herself from her own misery for a brief second to look at the older man. "I'm not married and I'm an elite Jonin. There's a way around it. But, I need you to listen to me, and agree to everything I tell you. I won't let anything happen to you."

Hinata felt her admiration for the man only grow. Of course, Sensei would have a plan. "Okay," she whispered, using the long sleeves of her hospital gown to wipe the tears away from her stained cheeks.

"Now, there's three ways to avoid what might happen to you," he said seriously. "Two of them, have already been ruled out. First was, you needed to be eighteen, and an adult in the eyes of all those who matter – no, being a Genin, in this case, doesn't count. At least, not in the eyes of civilians, which is what you'll be if they strip that away from you. The second, is by being a Chunin – which would effectively cut you out of that bubble."

"What do I have to do then?" she asked, feeling suddenly tired. Her head was spinning from all the emotions she was running through. It all felt like it was rather too much.

"What I did wasn't something that I would've chosen at the time. My father's Genin student, a loud young woman, with a perchance for Ramen," he grimaced here, but his voice sounded bright. Huh, the sounded oddly like a female version of Naruto. "Had been through the same thing when she was younger. That of course, was where my father had stepped in. He took her on as an apprentice. And she in turn, convinced her partner at the time, to take me on as his apprentice. I had been Genin for a day, at that point."

"Are you saying that becoming an apprentice puts me out of reach?"

"Yes," Kakashi responded bluntly. "When under an apprenticeship. With all the formalised documentation, not even your Clan can break such a contract. You will, uncandidly, have to distance yourself from your Clan. Whilst this won't stop them proposing marriage contracts to you. Legally, you can't sign without your Sensei's approval."

Understanding dawned on her like a light bulb. "Because being under a Jonin directly, means that we can sign any formalized documentation until we've completed our apprentices! Which isn't until we reach Jonin, right, Kakashi-sensei?"

His only visible eye crinkled to show how pleased he was. "That's right. All you have to do, is hold off until you turn eighteen, to gain the title of Jonin. Then, you won't be forced into anything you don't want to."

"Wouldn't that mean I would have to abandon my Clan?" she asked, her voice bordering on a whisper. "They wouldn't allow me within the family, if they knew I was purposefully going around them."

"Hinata," Kakashi-sensei said, once again, this time lowering his head, so he was looking directly into her eyes. She felt her heartbeat begin to race. "You have two options. Keep your family, loose your chance at being a ninja, and at having a happy relationship. Or two, lose some of your family, keep your carrier, choose who you marry – and quite possibly make up with all those who matter?"

Hinata froze, she couldn't choose! She wouldn't choose! She had to. What was the grim realisation that she was having? The icy cold feeling that was now gripping her heart, she was starting to recognise as dread. "I don't have the time to think about this, do I, Kakashi-sensei?"

He shook his head, how sorry he was portrayed easily through the expression in his eye. "I'm sorry, Hinata-chan. Hokage-sama informed me of your Clan's choices six hours ago," he paused. "I've been waiting here since. This needs to be finalised before you get discharged."

"Tou-sama can just visit me here," she replied softly, bowing her head. She used these few moments to allow her mind to race.

"I've blocked it," he admitted, now sounding rather sheepish. "I said the Seal wasn't stable enough to warrant any visitors. That lie, however, won't hold out very long."

Hinata paused. "I'll do it," she said without any regret. "I'll become an apprentice. Who will be my Sensei," she froze, suddenly scared. "It… it won't be you, will it Kakashi-sensei."

He grimaced and shook his head. "There is a subordinate of mine, an ANBU level Jonin. One of the most formidable Jonin in Konoha, who has agreed to take you on," he smiled through his mask. "As it happens, he's also leaving on a very important mission tomorrow. So he's leaving you to train with Anko-san. And can't possibly be here to be contested against. Not with the legal documents signed and lodged."

"Who is it, Kakashi-sensei?"

He smiled again, moving to rap his knuckles against the door, allowing the wooden panel to slide open, and tall figure slipping through the door. Hinata gaped at the man. "Hinata-chan, meet my adorable Kohaki, Yamato. Tenzo-kun, meet my adorable Genin, Hyuga Hinata."

Hinata blushed bright red, bowed her head and muttered; "it's a pleasure to meet you, Yamato-sensei."

"Likewise, Hinata-chan," came the cool response of the tall brunette in front of her. Hinata tried her hardest to meet the mans stare. He seemed kind, friendly. If this is what it took for her to remain a ninja, and not forced into a marriage by her Clan, then she'd do it. She'd hate to turn out like her mother. Stripped of her job, and married to someone she hadn't known.

Logically, she knew she could learn to love someone, but in her heart. She wanted to marry Naruto. She did love him, she thought, he was so cute – and she didn't want her right to choose Naruto to be taken away. So no, she was going to have to leave team 7 and have her place filled with someone else. She was going to become an apprentice to the man in front of her.

No one was going to stop her.

* * *

Willow POV

* * *

She always ended up stowed away in the most uncomfortable places, Willow had concluded glumly. After all, what was comfortable about sitting on a closed toilet at three in the morning? The darkness of the room, was only illuminated by the buzzing light streaming from the little disk on the roof. Honestly, if she had it her way, Naruto and her wouldn't live in this crappy little apartment. She wasn't a stranger to bad homes, but this mould infested place really did take the cake. Her eyes squinted at her reflection in the cloudy mirror, frowning through the yellowed lighting.

Maybe she exaggerated because she didn't like small enclosed spaces, which also happened to be dark, depressing with only the humming of a light about to go out. It was like a bathroom that you'd find in one of those muggle movies, that the heroine or hero had to go into to do a shady sort of deal. This wasn't a muggle movie, however and whilst this bathroom was all of that, but she had a job to do, and dammit, she was going to be bloody happy about it. Sucking in a deep breath, she cast the muffleo charm around the room, and locked the door, in case Naruto decided to wake up and stumble in here. She would feel bad if he actually did need to use the bathroom, but at a later date.

After all, she was now under so many guards that the only time she had to herself was mere moments when she could reach a bathroom, or three in the morning stowed away in said bathroom, with as many repelling charms as humanly possible. She digressed. "Minato Namikaze," she said, her voice loud and clear, as she wasn't overly worried about anyone hearing her over her charm.

Granted, a sleeping twelve year old was all she had to deal with. That, and Zabuza never charged in this early, he normally waited until eight, or nine. Iruka, her teacher-body guard mainly appeared around seven, much to Naruto's growing delight. Willow sighed, because yesterday was also tampered with Kakashi appearing to take Naruto on 'super-secret but still awesome as hell training'. The fact that Naruto wasn't the one to come up with the name, actually made her wince.

Nothing happened, and Willow's eye twitched. This was the same thing that happened when she summoned Death, why was this always so hard and complicated? "Minato Namikaze, I summon you! Get here now! Merlin damn – get over here you stubborn ghost! Namikaze! Minato! Uh, bloody hell."

Nothing happened, and Willow was left nearly seething. "Bah," she grumbled, her nose twitching before she switched tactics. Obviously, summoning Naruto's father wasn't going to happen. Or was she doing it wrong? Well, the only way to check that would be-, "Uzumaki Kushina, I summon thee!"

"You're really dramatic, -tattebane," a cheerful voice said, and in her shock, the red head swung her body around to see a woman, with long red hair sitting on the side of the sink, a bright grin on her nearly translucent features. Willow fell off the toilet she'd been sitting on, her shoulder painfully colliding with the floor. "But you have pretty cool hair."

Willow winced ignoring Naruto's mother, because damn, were their personalities similar? And froze for a second, wondering if maybe her crash was too loud to be cancelled out, and she'd woken said boy up. "What are you doing? Why are you being so quiet? You summoned me! I didn't know anyone could even do that, I mean, that's pretty cool. Did you use a seal?"

Shaking her head fondly, because damn, she really did remind her of Naruto, she pushed herself back into a sitting position, satisfied that she hadn't woken Naruto up. Her brows however, were farrowed. Why had summoning Kushina worked, but Minato didn't? "I'm Willow," she said instead of answering all the dead woman's questions. "I take care of your son, Naruto."

The woman went from cheerful, to ecstatic, her bright grin reminded her strongly of Naruto. They shared the same smile, she found herself thinking fondly. "Do you? How is he? Can I see him? Oh wait, he won't be able to see me, will he? What's he like? How old is he? Is he a ninja? Does he like funjutsu? Please tell me he likes Ramen, of course he likes Ramen right!?"

Willow blinked at the slew of questions that come out of the ghost's mouth to fast for her to respond to. Allowing the woman to cycle through her long list of questions, and watching her grow progressively more excited, she took a mental note to what made this woman, dead in her eyes. Like a normal ghost, she was translucent, but that didn't mean she couldn't see the vivid colours of the woman.

She could see her dark green eyes, and bright red fire truck hair. Not only that, but her neck was covered in a black cocker like material. It was like the other that she'd seen, but instead of the light grey ones, the dotted ones, and even the solid black ones, this one covered her entire neck. The Potter figured that it was because she was already dead. "Wait," the woman finally broke off from her tirade, suddenly frowning, the excitement starting to leak out from her voice. "Why is he with you? Jiraiya should've – and Kakashi-kun," her voice suddenly caught over the name. "Kakashi-kun would've… But his godfather?"

"Relax," Willow said, finally seeing the chance to interject. "Kakashi is alive, as is Jiraiya. Naruto happens to love Ramen, and has an obsession with the colour orange. Well, it's a long story – I kind of got trapped in a lamp and he freed me, so I've been taking care of him," she paused to fully let the craziness of what she'd just said sink in. "I think he's been alone for a while." 

"Are you like a genie!?"

"You know, that was the exact same thing Naruto said to me," she smiled fondly, starting to feel somewhat amused by Uzumaki Kushina. "Same tone, same expression and same words."

The woman didn't react how she thought she would upon finding out she shared such a similarity with her son, instead, she frowned. "Was Jiraiya with him when you first met him?"

"No, he came into the picture about, say a few weeks ago? I've been here for about six months now," Willow explained, her finger tapping on her shin, as she tried to recall the exact dates – had it honestly been that long already? "Kakashi is his teacher though."

The ghost cried in anger, and tried to smash the box of tissues residing next to her, only to realise that she couldn't touch anything and her hand went right over it, odd considering she was sitting on the furniture. How on earth was she sitting on something solid, if she couldn't touch anything solid!? This unfortunate, seemed to make her even angrier. "That old lecher! He was meant to take care of my baby! And he just left him all alone! He only came back now?! How old is my baby now?!" 

"He's thirteen," Willow replied, her voice soft. The woman screeched, and in her anger, it was almost as if the hair behind her seemed to flare around her dangerously. Even though the Potter knew the woman was long gone, and certainly couldn't injure her, she still recoiled from the woman as if she was going to strike out at her.

"B-but," she honestly looked like she was about to have a mental break, and Willow somehow started to see that the way she'd approached the whole situation was wrong. Maybe she shouldn't have out and said something like that to the woman. This was her son, and her life, that obviously hadn't gone the way she had thought it would've. "Was Kakashi-kun taking care of him then?"

Willow said nothing, not really understanding why it would be Kakashi's responsibility. Her silence seemed to speak volumes to the ghost. "Why would Kakashi take care of Naruto?" she said eventually, not quite liking the way the cheerful ghost was starting to exclude the aura of gloom.

The woman looked up, her eyebrows drawn together. "You don't know? Naruto's father, Minato, was Kakashi-kun's teacher. His father, Sakumo was my teacher," she paused briefly. "When Kakashi's dad died when he was five, he came to live with me, I took care of him, got Minato to be his teacher, and everything – I thought Kakashi would, be like his big brother, y'know?"

Willow froze, eyes wide and not quite understanding what the redhead was telling her. "What?"

The spirit seemed to realise her confusion and gave her a sheepish smile. "I'm confusing you. Kakashi was only thirteen when I died. I couldn't expect him to take care of a newborn – but didn't he visit?"

Didn't he indeed? Making a mental note to go tear through Hatake later (because yes, he was now on a last name basis) after all, Naruto was according to this woman, meant to be like family to him. Willow would have killed to have someone take her in when her parents died, and she did feel a stab of pity for Kakashi, having his dad die at such a young age. But that didn't give him the right to pretend Naruto didn't exist. Or maybe he hadn't, but Naruto seemed to think that his teacher was a stranger when he had first met him.

Merlin damn, was this why he was so quiet when she was tearing through Jiraiya about Naruto's care? Had he been neglecting the boy as well? What had this kid done to deserve that? Was it… was it kind of like Remus and her? Then again, as a werewolf he could never have custody, like Kakashi being nothing but a child, but like Remus, he still could've fought to see them.

Willow never really did understand why Remus didn't fight Dumbledore for the right to be able to see her. To be honest, the fact that Remus had apologised and said, 'it was still to raw,' never really was a good enough excuse for her. Sirius had broken out of prison, and broke into Hogwarts, and still managed to make time to get to know her.

What was Hatake's excuse? Because she would refuse to call him Kakashi again until she was satisfied.

Willow shrugged. "I wouldn't know," she paused for a moment glancing at the door. "After our conversation, maybe in an hour, Naruto should wake up. He won't be able to see you – but you can see him, that's only if you want to see what he's turned out like?"

Her eyes glistened, which must have been difficult to achieve, considering how translucent she was. "Thank you," she whispered, before her voice grew louder and more determined. "But you need to put Jiraiya in his place! How dare he abandon my son after he promised not to?"

"I have no problems with helping you with that," she responded, getting a nice grin in return. "I do however, need to know everything I can about the Uzumaki Clan. All the dirty secrets, techniques and tricks. Enough to let me successfully pass myself off as one."

"You want to pretend to be a Uzumaki?" the woman scratched her chin. Not that Willow thought she could even feel itchy. Maybe she was trying to come off as wise. "You look close enough to one," she mused. "It's in the hair. I'd grow it out longer if you wanted to blindside everyone else though. Your features are too different. Why'd you wanna be an Uzumaki anyway?"

"For Naruto," she replied easily. "It's all for Naruto."

The woman grinned, sticking her finger up, like she wanted to congratulate her for her response. "I like you already, tattbanne! But why are we in a crappy bathroom? It looks really, uh, _creepy_, tattebane!"

"It's… our apartment bathroom," she said hesitantly, not liking the way that her eyes gleamed with the information. "Mine and Naruto's," she clarified for the woman.

"Wait, what?! No!" she yelled, crossing her arms over her chest to display an X. "You're raising my son here!?"

"Uh," Willow mumbled, feeling her face go red. Starting to feel somewhat embarrassed by the tone and expression from the ghost. Only Willow Potter, she lamented, would be able to let a ghost make her feel embarrassed over a bathroom.

"I need to see the entire house!" Willow felt something in her stomach drop, when she realised that the woman wasn't going to be happy if she was expecting a house of any sort. This, she concluded glumly, was another one of her ill-thought out plans.

Honestly, if there was award for not thinking plans through very well, then she'd get first prize every time she made a plan. Why did none of her plans work out the way she wanted them too?

An why, was Uzuamki Kushina so cheerful after their conversation? And why on earth was she not questioning how Willow had managed to summon her soul to an empty, desolate bathroom at three in the morning? If it was her, she'd have so many questions that the other persons ears would start to bleed. This was not what she'd expected when she'd summoned Naruto's parents – or mother.

Why hadn't summoning his father worked? With that last thought, she allowed herself to be pulled (not physically mind you) out of the room, and was given the ability to see Kushina's less than happy response to the state of Naruto's apartment. What on earth was she getting herself into?

* * *

Naruto POV

* * *

After Hinata had woken up, and joined Sasuke training with the crazy purple haired lady, Naruto began to relax. When Karin-chan managed to wake Sakura-chan up, whose eyes were as wide a saucers as she thanked Karin-chan over and over again, he started to feel happier. Kakashi-sensei also, was turning up at his apartment at eight every morning, and not the stupid team meeting place – so he could be comfortable in his house, and not a stupid bridge.

Then they'd go and train, and it was crazy just how much stuff Sensei was trying to shove into his head. He never knew just how cool Kakashi-sensei was. After he finished training really late, he'd go find Karin-chan. Sometimes, she'd be with Willow-chan, and other times she was trying to avoid Sakura-chan. Naruto didn't know why Sakura was trying to stalk her cousin, but Karin-chan just shrugged and muttered something about 'damn fangirls'.

Girls didn't make much sense. Which brought him to now. It had been a week since the ending of the second exam, and things had settled down nicely – in his opinion, but things, he concluded, hadn't settled down that much. "Who are you talking to, nee-chan?"

Willow-chan froze, her hands hovering over a fry pan, which made Naruto frown. Normally she let him make breakfast and she made lunch, and they split dinner. Naruto liked to cook, he found himself quite good at it once she'd taught him, and he very quickly realised that she didn't like doing such a task in the first place. She'd always mumble something about slavery, and unjust bacon frying pans.

Willow-chan was really weird sometimes though. "Uh, I'm not talking to anyone."

"But you were talking to something, I heard your voice," Naruto pointed out, in what he deemed as a very reasonable voice. After all, the older girl was standing there looking very guilty, her eyes darting between him and the empty space next to her. Suddenly, her lips twitched and she tried to smother a laugh. "Why are you laughing?"

"I'm not," she said, sounding sheepish, frowning at the empty space like it had just insulted her. "Shut up."

"Hey!" Naruto called as if insulted, but then he realised it seemed like she was telling the empty space to shut up. Naruto's eyebrow rose, a trait he had slowly learned off the woman in front of him, his nose twitching, before he peered behind her and mumbled. "It's burning."

"Oh shit," she hissed, spinning around to hastily pull the pieces of browned bread off the frypan and add it to the stack next to the stove. The stack was already dangerously high, but then again, she'd still need to have more on hand when Zabuza and Haku came over. "I'll save the burned ones for Zabuza."

"Right," Naruto replied sitting down at the dining table heavily, after dragging one of the orange beanbags, which nee-chan had made from one of the old chairs, up to it. "I don't mind, even though it's only burned because you're crazy."

Willow-chan moved to place some plates, and a glass of water by him, also setting a place for herself. She tried to hit him with the spatula she had been using, but using his awesome ninja skills, he'd ducked underneath the little black utensil. The smell of burned bread leaking from the appendage. Naruto pulled a face. "I'm a ninja, you can't hit me! I'm too good!"

"Yeah, well," Willow-chan muttered, falling into her own bright scarlet beanbag, (a Gryffindor beanbag apparently). "Bah."

"Bah?" Naruto asked seriously, wondering what was so wrong that she couldn't format a proper response. "What does that mean?"

"It means be quite and eat your burned breakfast," she replied without missing a beat. Naruto pulled another face, but still forced himself to eat his sister's creations because he really didn't want to hurt her feelings. She wasn't a very good cook sometimes – but when it came to basic stuff, she wasn't bad. She seemed really distracted today though, he thought as he watched her pull a face at thin air.

It was almost like someone was there, but there wasn't – because it was just them. Like every morning, but normally he cooked, because despite the fact he just learned, he was still better. Naruto pulled another face at the girl, who was also pulling a face at the air next to her. Watching the girl, he watched as her face cycled though emotions, seeming to settle on embarrassment, and anger the most often.

"Is someone there?" Naruto asked, everything suddenly making sense, as he gave the woman one of his sunny smiles. "Like, someone I totally can't see but you can because you're a kickarse genie?"

Willow-chan finally turned to him, her lips now twitching at what he said (Naruto didn't really understand why nee-chan thought everything he said was hilarious), but he just assumed that genie's had a strange sense of humour. "Yes," she replied bluntly, sticking her tongue out at the invisible person next to her. "There is someone there."

"Is it another genie?" Naruto asked curiously, abandoning the French Toast the woman had burned before. "Why are they invisible? Is it like, some sort of super-secret genie mission?"

"No," Willow responded, before pausing or a really long time. Naruto could feel the energy building up inside of him – he wanted to know, no. He needed to know who the magical invisible person genie-chan was talking to! He had to, believe it! "I see dead people."

Naruto faltered, his smile dropping as he looked at the girl, unsure. His hand was frozen in mid-air, and he just stared. The redhead's lips broke into a massive grin, and she started to laugh, Naruto didn't know how this was funny. "I've always wanted to say that," she admitted amidst her laughter. "No, but seriously, I can talk to dead people."

"You _can_?" his voice was incredulous. But his mind was spinning. If nee-chan could talk to dead people, which sounding crazy and weird, but she was a genie then maybe he could talk to his parents though her? No. Maybe? He didn't even know who they were, and he'd need a name if he wanted to get her to talk to them for him, plus, he didn't even know if they were actually dead – and didn't just not want him. His shoulders slumped.

"I can," she responded. "I'm a pretty kickarse genie, don't you think?"

Naruto nodded his head eagerly, well, it couldn't really hurt if he made a small wish, would it? He still had two, and if he didn't use just one, then she wouldn't leave – that was what he'd concluded. If he only left one wish unused… But that meant he could use this, it did. It was decided. "I know what I want my second wish to be," he said suddenly, his voice gushing out of his mouth, the words stumbling out too fast. "I wanna talk to my parents – through you?"

Willow-chan grinned, and suddenly he felt relief flow through his body, she wouldn't smile at him like that if she couldn't do it. When she couldn't do something he asked, she just got a small frown, and an apologetic look. Could he figure out who his parents were? "As it happens, I have a young lady – I don't care if technically you're older than me," Willow started off sounding cheerful, only to end up snapping at the air next to her. "No, I'm twenty one dammit. No! I am not seventeen! Shut up, you're ruining things. Thank you. Um, what was I saying?" she looked back over to Naruto sheepishly. "Right. Young lady. Her name is Uzumaki Kushina and she seems too be quite closely related to you."

"Uzumaki?" Naruto whispered. "Kushina? Is that my… my…"

"That's the name of your mother Naruto, you have quite a similar personality," Willow-chan said. "Although, she claims you look like a carbon copy of your father – right down to the chubby cheeks? What kind of person _are_ you?"

Naruto tried not to let the fact that Willow-chan was arguing with his mum, it was just the fact that he had one, and she was here. Even if he couldn't see her, Willow-chan could. "Do you think I could ask her some questions nee-chan?"

Willow nodded her head, a soft look on her face. She understood what he was feeling he thought. Her parents had died when she was a baby too. She understood what it was like to grow up without them. To constantly want to meet them, he felt his breath caught in his throat. "What does she look like?"

"Like Karin, but older. Her hair is a darker red, and it's down to her waist, and her eyes are a shade of dark green," Willow answered, her eyes glued to a figure he couldn't see. "She's very beautiful Naruto. Karin is an Uzumaki, yes, no. But, I figure she must be then – oh okay, I'll do my best. Would that really work?"

"What are you talking about?"

"What country is Karin from, Naruto?" she asked, instead of answering the boy's questions. Naruto figured that his mother wanted to know. She was an Uzumaki. Who was his dad? Could nee-chan not get his dad? Or could she only talk to one ghost at a time? That seemed more likely – even genie's weren't perfect, amazing creatures.

"Kusogakure," Naruto replied, evenly.

"Okay, I'll talk to the Hokage – I can't say that, how am I meant to know that? I'm not telling the Hokage I can talk to dead people, are you crazy? He'll kill me – yes, he will! Oh damn it, you're meant to be talking to Naruto."

Naruto blinked. It was odd to see someone have a conversation without him actually being part of it. With that, he meant that he couldn't actually see or hear the other half of the argument. "How did you and dad die?" he didn't care if he sounded morbid, he wanted to know if she wanted him. Did she purposefully let herself die because she didn't want to have to deal with him, the monster?

Willow's face dropped and she nodded her head slowly, a tight look appearing on her features, before she began to recite. "Thirteen years ago, the Kyubi was sealed within your mother," Naruto gasped looking down at his stomach. He had shared this task with his mother!? "Only an Uzumaki has the strength to carry one, apparently. You have excess stamina and longitivity. Anyway, the seal was weakened when she was giving birth to you – and someone, she doesn't know who came and weakened the seal, realising the Kyubi from her. Your dad, had designed a seal to place the Kyubi inside you, using the Shinigami, though it required his willing sacrifice to seal it within you." Willow had paused, a look of understanding dawning on her face.

"That might be why then," she had mumbled, ignoring his wide eyes, and disbelieving face. "Your dad sacrificed himself to protect the village, and your mother's body couldn't stand the Kyubi being extracted from her. They both loved you very much. She says she can't believe how handsome you are."

Naruto's lip trembled with the information. "Who's my dad?"

Willow hesitated, not sure if she wanted to answer the question. She glanced towards the empty air, towards Kushina, his mother, before she nodded. "Namikaze Minato. The Fourth Hokage."

Naruto couldn't help it. His hero? The one who sealed the demon, the same demon that had been sealed within his mother, was his dad? The Fourth, the legend, the hero… was his dad?! He wasn't sure when he started crying, but he became aware of it when he felt the liquid touch his cheeks. He clenched his jaw, looking at nee-chan for some form of support.

Though he needn't have done that last part, she had already crossed the room, and swept the boy up in her arms, and clutched him to her chest. He rested his head on her shoulder, letting his tears leak onto her clothes. She didn't mind, she never did. She just hummed rubbing circles into his back until he calmed down. He didn't know if he would.

The Fourth was his dad. Uzumaki Kushina was his mum. This all had been hidden from him, but now that he thought about it, it all made too much sense. The way the Hokage had treated him for all those years – the old man knew. Naruto had often wondered why the Hokage was so interested in him, always having meetings and buying him Ramen, when he hadn't done it for other orphans. Why he'd been allowed to have his own apartment – when no one else was allowed to.

Except Sasuke, but that was a different story. He'd wondered, but he hadn't asked and this was why. Why had no one told him? No one ever told him anything. They didn't tell him about the Kyubi either. Kakashi-sensei had been forced to say something, but he wasn't even allowed to when he had.

Why was everything in his life this big kept _secret_?!

Naruto held onto Willow-chan tighter, forgetting the fact that the ghost of his mother was hovering about. No. He couldn't – he couldn't even think about this right now. He needed to talk to the Hokage – demand answers. He deserved them, believe it!

* * *

Willow POV

* * *

Calming Naruto down after the revelation of his parents had lasted until she had a round of people knocking at the door. The fact that her normal morning occupants managed to all arrive at the same time – Kakahsi early, Zabuza late, and Iruka on time, made things all that much harder. How was she meant to explain the red-eyed blonde kid in the room?

She was glad they couldn't see Kushina. Letting the three of them in, frowning with the lack of Haku, and shooting Zabuza a concerned look, upon which he just shrugged and quoted "mission", and went right to the table to demolish the remains of Naruto's now cold and burned breakfast. Willow reminisced at the charred remains of French Toast.

Iruka had nodded politely, pulling up one of the only remaining chairs, and pulled out his folder – the next semester of Academy intakes began right after the chunnin Exam finished, and he was trying to write curriculum. Actually, Willow had somewhat come to the conclusion that he'd been stuck with her because the Hokage lacked suitable man-power, and not because this man was secretly extremely powerful.

That and all the man did was sit around writing some sort of academic thing. Kakashi entered with a cheerful smile, his eyes dancing around. "Where's my wayward student this morning?" he'd asked, and Willow felt her eye twitch. The anger, mixed with how tired she was, because yes, she'd been awake since three in the morning, started to rear it's head.

"He's gotten so tall," she heard Kushina gush, literal starts in her eyes. "Oh, Kakashi-kun, you look just like your dad did."

"In his room," she snapped, knowing full well the boy had fled the second the door had opened. "He'll be a few minutes. In the meantime – I need to talk to you, alone." The last part was more directed at Kushina than anything else, but Zabuza seemed to take delight in that sentence. His grin scratching across his face, showing off his pointed teeth before he gave the two a rather saucily wink. Willow rolled her eyes.

Even Iruka raised his eyebrow.

"Ah," he said, suddenly sounding nervous, taking a step back at her tone. "I mean I'd love to, Willow-chan, but ah, cute little student and all that."

"It won't take that long," she concluded, grabbing his arm and marching him to the bathroom. Merlin, she really needed a bigger bathroom, and a room in the house that she could go to talk to people that wasn't the tiny bathroom. She shoved the taller man into the room, closing the door behind her. Kakashi, smart man that he was, backed up as far as he could in the tiny and cramped room, nearly hiding himself in the shower.

"The bathroom?" he asked, suddenly sounding a lot more nervous than he had before. "Look, Naruto really needs all the time he can muster today – and."

"Shut up," Willow said, ignoring whatever crappy excuses or random things he'd say in efforts to keep everything calm. "I _know_ who Naruto's parents are. You know what _I _am. I know that you were meant to be there for him too. Where the fuck have you been all his life? First his godfather abandons him – but _you_, Kakashi? You?"

"How'd you find that out?" he sounded perplexed.

Willow rolled her eyes, before narrowing them at the man that was half standing in a miniature shower, the frame not quite tall enough to allow him to stand at his full height, so it left him half hunched as he shrank further back into the shower. "I have magic, and I'm a genie, and you're asking me how I found out about who you lived with after you turned five?"

"Are you stalking me, Willow-chan?" he'd inserted some cheek into the sentence, but she could hear the undertones of seriousness in his voice. He was trying to break the tension, but hell, she wasn't letting him. What the hell had Naruto done to deserve such a fate?!

"Shut it! I know you were thirteen, but still, Kakashi! He was all alone! How could you just leave him like that!? The poor kid," Willow snapped, feeling hot angry tears bubble over her eyes, before she slammed her hand against the wall, angrily muttering, "muffilo."

"What did you just do?" 

"I silenced the room, no one can hear what we say now," she said, taking deep breaths in an effort to calm herself. If she'd been thinking straight, she would have up and done that to start with. Willow glanced over the small expanse over to Kakashi. They were much to close together. As it was, they might be able to fit a person the size of Naruto between them, and nothing else. "Why did you abandon him?"

"I didn't-."

"Yes you did! He has no idea who you really are, other than his Sensei," she replied, seething at his casual dismissal. The Hatake recoiled away from her, as if she'd physically stuck him. "He has no idea that his mother took you in when you were five. He has no idea that his dad taught you since you were five. He has no idea that his own mother, was the student of _your_ father."

"How do you know that?!" he demanded, his hands coming out to grasp her shoulders. Willow saw this as what it was, an intimidation technique, but it wasn't going to work on her. She wasn't scared of him, and she glared at him to portray that, and he let go of her, slinking even further back until he hit the wall behind him. Choosing to sit in the shower then to actually be closer to her. "That's highly classified information, Willow. No one is allowed to know."

"I'm not anyone," she said, starkly. "If you don't tell me – give yourself a chance to redeem yourself, then I'll find out another way. Merlin, Hatake. Aren't we meant to be friends?"

Friends? Were they really friends? Glancing down at the silver haired man, sitting at the bottom of her shower she could safely conclude that despite her best efforts, Hatake Kakashi was one of her friends. Even though she tried her hardest not to make friends, she had. Kakashi, Zabuza, Haku, heck, even Naruto. She'd made some meaningful connections here. Kakashi blinked his lone onyx eye at her, and sighed. Of course she'd make friends with the least talkative person in Konoha.

"Of course we are Willow-chan," he said, voice soft, despite the fact that it really needn't be. "It's a difficult situation. I was thirteen, everyone I cared about had just died, and to top all that off. I was in ANBU. It's not an excuse, I know. It's what happened though. We need to move on from it."

"No, we don't," Willow snapped, even more lived with the fact that he tried once again, to dismiss what had happened. "I don't know the hell kind of ninja thing ANBU is, and frankly, I don't care. You could have been there, you could've set aside your pain for two minutes just to _visit_ the damn kid?"

There was a flash across Kakashi's eye, for a moment, she would have classed it as anger, but it was gone before she could fully understand it. Instead it was replaced by a cool, calm aura. But it'd been there, she was sure of it. "Did your genie-magic tell you why I moved in with Kushina-nee and Minato-sensei?" he pressed, the calm he'd created over his visible eye, and his tone spoke two different stories. His voice was rough, unbalanced – and more importantly, sounded angry.

Good, Willow thought, let him feel the anger she did. Let him feel the unbalanced emotions that she'd felt, that Naruto had felt. She didn't stop to consider for very long, that Kakashi wasn't the sort of person to be very emotional, or get angry. "Your dad died," Willow bowed her head slightly, her eyes flickering closed for the briefest of moments before she raised her head again. "I'm sorry about that. I'm sure he was a fantastic person."

"He wasn't," Kakashi cut through harshly, his tone on edge, and his stare lacked any of the usual warmth he held when conversing with her. "He was a hero, maybe. I never really got the chance to know him. He committed suicide. The day I graduated from the Academy, at five. I came home, ready to tell my father that I was the youngest graduate, that I'd done it. He was dead. Just there."

"Oh Merlin," Willow said, eyes wide, horrified. That, was the worst way to find your dad dead. He graduated when he was five? Naruto had when he was thirteen? How powerful, and talented did he have to be? "I didn't mean to-."

"Kushina-nee took me in," he continued, bitterly ignored any of her stuttered responses, his voice dull, but his eyes bored into her. "Minato-sensei took me on as an apprentice, because of a stupid Clan restoration Act that would have my Hite-ate. I became a Chunnin when I was six, and joined a team for that. Both happened to be twelve, at the time. Then the war broke out."

"The war?" she whispered, mostly to herself. She was actually beginning to regret just coming in here to yell at him – but, even though this story wasn't a happy one, she didn't understand what it had to do with Naruto, at least, she didn't understand yet.

"The Third Great Shinobi War," he answered, actually letting her know that he was listening. His cold black eye taking in every flinch and regretful look her face concocted. "I became a Jonin at age twelve. My team and I, went on a mission. Because I was in charge, and won't go back for our captured teammate. My best friend, died."

"That couldn't have been your fault."

"It was," he said, harshly. "Don't even try and say it's different. Months later, my other teammate begged me to kill her, and I had no choice – I stuck my hand through her heart."

Willow's stomach began to churn, and not at all in a pleasant way. "Mere months later – The Kyubi attacked, and both Kushina-nee and Minato-sensei were killed. Days later, I got drafted into the ANBU. I got all the jobs too dirty, too horrifying for normal ninja to do."

She had nothing to say, and the man just sat there, in the shower, his eye no long cold and heard, but blazing with anger that he'd tried so hard to conceal. "I killed hundreds of people, and tried my hardest to bury any sort of empathy I could have felt, to actually become that monster that could take so many lives without remorse. So you can't tell me, that factoring a newborn baby into so much death, and destruction, would've been a _good_ idea."

"I didn't know that," Willow mumbled, all her previous anger at the Jonin suddenly disappearing. Her stomach was still churning, momentarily, she considered offering to allow him to talk to the ghosts of his diseased past, but then thought, maybe, this wasn't a very good idea. She was filled with not very good ideas, that, and a very rash personality. "I'm sorry."

His lone dark eye pierced right though her, he didn't look at all amused, and behind the mask – she could safely assume he was frowning. "Naruto didn't deserve to have someone like me around."

Willow suddenly felt the anger that had disappeared just moments ago flare back up again. "No, don't you dare say that! Just because shitty things have happened to you, doesn't mean you don't deserve good things to happen to you now, Merlin's left saggy-."

"Nee-chan! Kakashi-sensei! What are you two doing in there!? Zabuza's making annoying comments again, nee-chan!" Naruto's loud voice was enough to break through any sort of muffling charm. "You're not seducing anyone are you? Nee-chan!"

Willow couldn't help the small smile pulling over her face. Some things, really did never change. "I need to train my student now," Kakashi cut through, standing, and exiting the shower before striding over to the door, launching out, grabbing Naruto by the sleeve, and pulling him out of the door.

Willow could only assume the man had dragged him out of the bathroom, through the living room, and out of the door. His movement just as stiff, angry and uncomfortable as they'd been when he'd exited the room. Well, she'd well and truly fucked that one up, hadn't she?

She hadn't expected that sort of story once she approached him. She hadn't expected to see just how damaged and depressed the man actually was. The funny part was that she felt like he hadn't even said anything other than the basics of the story. She really needed to start thinking some things through.

She was too much of a Gryffindor. Next time, she resolved, she'd try and use whatever Slytherin part of her she had, if any. "Hey hey, Kakashi-kun looked pretty angry, dragging Naruto around like a little doll, what did you guys talk about in here?"

Willow glanced up at the shimmering redhead and sighed, rather loudly, before muttering. "Something I really shouldn't have."

"Mhm," she hummed thoughtfully, her face not annoyed, or worried in the slightest. "That's Kakashi-kun for you, always storming off in an angry huff."

Willow raised an eyebrow, what sort of Kakashi had Kushina known? Because the one she knew was cheerful, slightly perverted, and didn't say much that wasn't a joke. He for one, was not an angry person – or had she simply not seen that about him? Willow sighed again, she really did have to make this right. Somehow. "I've never seen him angry before," she mumbled lowly, just to ensure that the other two ninja in the opposite room couldn't hear her.

She raised one of her perfectly arched eyebrows. Naruto's mother, truly was the epitome of beautiful. "Really? Not even mildly annoyed?"

"No."

"Huh, you can't have been around him for very long then," she hummed, not looking at all put out by the things she'd heard. "He was a very annoyed child," she said, tone conversational. Though this wasn't doing anything for the guilt festering in her stomach. "Rolled his eyes at nearly everything – I tell you! Hey, so, we going to go to the Hokage's office today? Yeah! I can tell you exactly what to say!"

"I don't think-."

"Now that's _your _problem, not thinking, that is," she cut her off. "Let me do the thinking. Who's Zabuza, by the way? I think I like that guy – though he's gonna burn the apartment down, which I think is probably a good thing – tattebene!"

"What!?" Willow nearly screeched before pushing herself off the wall, and hurling herself down the little hallway, trying to ignore the ringing laughter of the Uzumaki woman behind her.

* * *

**Omake – Because everyone seemed to want to see this, but I couldn't seem to fit it in:**

**Naruto POV**

* * *

Awkwardly, the blonde boy began to rub the back of his head. This, he mused, was not what he thought was going to happen when he invited Karin-chan over for dinner. He hadn't anticipated her bringing her entire team over, their Sensei staring down at him like he was a bug beneath his shoe. He hadn't expected Zabuza, and Haku to come barrelling through the door (breaking it again), and he certainly had not expected Karin's sensei to recognise both ex-missing nin.

"You!" He'd cried, the second you'd heard the door collide with the wall behind it, and a gruff voice muttering 'oops' again. "How did you get here!? Are you here to kill me now!?" the man was staring daggers at Zabua and Haku, the later looking rather sorry, bowing his head in apology.

Karin-chan groaned, and tried to hide her face in her hands, catching Zabuza's attention, and my, did he eye her with an intense curiosity. "I will not let you any further in here! How have you come to find me!" by this point, the man was pointing and yelling at Zabuza, which caused nee-chan to hastily enter the room, eyes wide, before zeroing in on the broken door.

That really had seemed like a sore point for the woman. "Did you break my door, again, Zabuza!? I swear to Merlin, one day I'll kill you! Come on, Haku, I could use your help with plates," and just like that, she held her arm out, and Haku walked forward until her hand rested on his shoulder, and started to pull him back towards the kitchen.

Karin's sensei did not seem at all amused by being ignored. "Is this a trap? Have you lead us into a trap, Uzumaki!?" he'd directed the last part towards Karin, but it was Naruto who'd responded, not used to the name not being directed at him.

"I don't even know you, cranky old man," Naruto groused, before Karin-chan pointed out that he'd been talking to her. Naruto's face fell into a perfect 'o'.

Zabuza on the other hand, simply rolled his eyes, tearing the door out of the wall – making the hole bigger, and closing the door again. "If I wanted to kill you, ah – um, person. Then I'd have done it by now," he grinned, showing off all his pointed teeth. "Actually, if you keep standing between me and my dinner, I might do just that."

"Do you not even remember who I am!?"

"Uh," Zabuza scratched his cheek for a moment, before shrugging and giving up on thinking on it. If he hadn't given up in mere seconds, Naruto felt like the other man wouldn't have been so offended by his lack of care. "I don't really care who you are actually – just another stray Genie-chan picked up, I guess."

"I don't know who you refer to," he began saying, his voice oddly stiff. "But we met just last year in the lands of-."

What the man was going to say was cut off by nee-chan appearing again, this time with a bright grin on her face, and chirping out the words, "dinner's ready!" before assuring them all over to their table (which really wasn't big enough for all these people, but hey, wasn't it half this size this morning?) Anyway, it forced the man to stop his undoubtedly very boring story, and forced him to sit down to one of the most traditional meals he'd even seen Willow-chan attempt.

As they all sat down, and began to eat, there was a heavy silence descending over the table. Which Naruto found uncomfortable, and began to fidget. It stayed like this for another few moments. Zabuza only interested in his food. Karin-chan was looking at nee-chan adoringly, who was preoccupied with making sure Haku was eating enough, and Zabuza wasn't stealing it. Haku, for all his worth was attempting to be polite, and simply smiling and pushing away nee-chan's offer for more food.

Karin's teammates were sitting with their shoulders hunched, and looked like they were trying to pretend they weren't here. Which didn't even count for the fact that their Sensei was glaring at Zabuza with more hate then Naruto had ever seen. "So," Naruto began, not sure he liked the silence very much. "How you two met?" he said this awkwardly, but no less curiously.

"He stole my rabbit!" the Jonin Sensei yelled, leaping to his feet, and not caring very much for the plate that rattled dangerously. "It was a white-hair, and breed indoors, and very rare. And those two just stole it!"

Willow-chan blinked, looking down at Karin-chan mouthing the word 'rabbit', and his cool as heck cousin, well, she just shrugged her shoulders. Naruto thought hard when Zabuza just shrugged. "I'm sorry we inconvenienced you," Haku had said with a small bow of his head, his soft-spoken words enough to calm even the most raging man.

"Wasn't that the thing you used to distract us?" Naruto wondered out loud. "The one we nearly killed? What happened to that rabbit?"

"We ate it," Zabuza responded grinning. The man blanched, and Karin-chan signed.

"Stop!" she yelled, standing up, her face turning a shade that matched not only her hair, but her bright red eyes as well. "Shut up and sit down! We are going to let go old vendettas and sit down and enjoy this meal with the last of my clan! And we're _all_ going to like it!"

Naruto faltered, looking at the girl with wide eyes. She was scary when she was angry, even scarier than nee-chan was, and that was saying something. Willow-chan for all that it was worth, just smied broadly at the younger redhead, like she was trying to congrulate her for her yelling.

Naruto looked over at Haku, his wide-eyed and frankly, terrified expression seemed to be enough for the other boy to shoot him a wary smile. Haku too, seemed rather shocked by what was happening, and the long-haired boy eyed Karin-chan out of the corner of his eye, like she was a ticking time bomb. Zabuza, however, didn't have to same restraint that he and Haku had. "What's your story," he said, pointing his chopstick at Karin-chan.

Naruto hadn't even known they had chopsticks in the house. Willow-chan preferred to eat using this thing called a fork. Which was this metal object that had three pointy things coming out of a handle. Actually, Naruto wasn't sure how Willow-chan got the forks either. He wasn't sure how Willow-chan got anything, actually.

Karin-chan shrugged her shoulders, all her fight and anger seemed to be drained from her. "I don't know what you mean, Zabuza-san," she bowed her head politely, much to the ex-missing nins ire.

"You're related right?" He asked, pointing his chopsticks between Willow-chan and Karin-chan, before Naruto could say anything, Willow-chan nodded. Huh? Zabuza nodded his head, and grinned.

Suddenly, Naruto didn't want to know what Zabuza was thinking anymore.


	17. Chapter 17

**Ain't Never Had A Friend Like Me**

**Chapter 17 – How to make a Uzumaki**

**(OR – How to get away with Identity Theft 101)**

**A/N – Yo. So on parings. They've been decided, all of them. I can't wait for you all to see what's inside my twisted little head. Don't forget to follow me on Tumbler, where I can and will answer all your questions, and chuck you a follow – Akari-chaan . Get on that! P.S – yes, the tattoo of Hogwarts is mine. Pretty cool I know.**

**So, I'm also thinking of explain something from last chapter. For those of you who managed to pick up on the fact that it sounded like Hinata having a crush on Kakashi, congratulations – you were right. No, dear god, nothing of that sort will ever happen. But, come on, haven't you ever had a crush on a teacher at that age? When I was 16 I had the biggest crush on my Literature teacher. It's a thing that happens at that age. I feel, like it's typical and essentially needed.**

**Oh, and to the unreachable person who PM'd me and said Willow was a Mary Sue… what fic have you been reading? Lol. She's like, one of the least perfect characters I've ever written. She's impulsive, rude, ignores people's feelings, and for most of this, she's actually being rather selfish (unless Naruto is involved.) I mean, unless the term Mary Sue has changed since it was last defined to me…**

**Willow POV**

In the grand scheme of her life, Willow wasn't sure if she'd ever put much thought into any of her plans. It had alway been Hermione who conducted any plans. The ill-timed and not very people-friendly plans. However, she didn't need to be Hermione Jean Granger to know that she was better at making plans than Uzumaki Kushina was. Even if her plans always did fizzle out in an unexpected glory.

"Oh man, she's so cute, tattebane!" Kushina had gushed the second she'd laid eyes on Karin. The older woman's dark green, translucent eyes were shining. "You can tell she's a Uzuamki! You can't let her go! Tattebane!"

Willow ignored the ghost, and had gone on with her day. She wondered how long she'd be able to keep Kushina in the land of the living. She was wary of all the stories she'd heard about the stone, and being able to bring back the dead, but it having a negative effect on one's mindset. Not really being able to tell the difference between alive and dead. On the other hand, Willow was starting to realise that her new powers were connected with the Deathly Hollows. She was curious to how far she could push it. Would the effects of the hollows be the same on her, even though she didn't have the items physically on her?

After all, the ability to see someone before they died? Wasn't that the purpose of the clock to conceal? The ability to summon dead spirits? That was certainly the stone. She just wasn't sure what powers the wand had given her, not yet. And with Kushina around, she didn't really have the time to think about it. "Come on! We need to go to the Hokage, tattebane."

"I'm not telling him," Willow complained, forgetting for a second that she was talking out loud, and in front of Iruka who glanced up at her, looking confused. Willow waved him off but from the expression on his face, she felt that her talking to herself wasn't something he was going to let go.

Willow huffed, reseating herself in her comfortable beanbag, and re-propped up Icha Icha. This man, seemed to think she was talking to the book more often than not when she had it popped up in front of her, and she could let the man second guess himself. That and he thought she was some sort of pervert (which she was, now that she thought about it). For she enjoyed reading the series a bit too much to be considered otherwise.

"Aw come on," the red head whined, her arms draping of her shoulders, sending tingles down her spine. Once again, Willow was caught wondering why she could touch things sometimes, but not all the time. "Karin-chan obviously wants to stay here, with Naruto! Plus, you could have a really big Clan again! Think about how amazing it could be! The Uzumaki Clan back and running again!"

Her green eyes twitched, and she scrunched her face up. She didn't want to start a bloody Clan, and she didn't want to have to deal with family politics over here again, either. Kushina sighed dramatically. "You're really stubborn, tattebane!" she complained loudly, but that didn't matter, as Willow was the only one that could hear her. "Wouldn't it be nice to see them have a nice big house and family to come home to? You don't have to do anything, just let me talk to the Hokage through you!"

Willow raised her eyebrow, snapping her mouth shut to make herself conscious that she couldn't talk with Iruka in the room. Kushina was annoying. "Think about how much safer Naruto will be with a Clan name to back him?" Willow froze, and the ghost grinned, obviously happy to have hit a sore point. "Having my Clan name behind me has helped me so much. It makes me so sad that Naruto, my baby," she sniffed for effect. "Won't get the same. Won't be able to think of his family with pride and happiness-."

"Fine! I'll do it!" Willow snapped loudly, before throwing her book right through Kushina's head. Not that the celebrating ghost seemed to mind.

"Um, Willoo-san," Iruka had said, breaking her out of her moodily staring at her book that had flown halfway across the room. "Are you feeling alright?"

"No," she snapped, turning her glare onto Kushina, who was merrily doing a fist bump in the air, and mindlessly blabbing on about things that really had no concern for her. "I need to see the Hokage. Now."

His brow rose but she was hardly paying much attention to him. "It's really, very important," she continued, before he could properly respond.

"Tell him it's a life or death situation," the ghost chimed in helpfully. Not that Willow thought she was being particularly helpful, at all. The green eyed girl scowled at the older woman before turning back to the confused instructor.

"It has to do with Naruto, and it's really, of the up most importance that I see the Hokage."

Iruka sighed before nodding, and starting to slide his folders shut and store them in little paper scrolls that had Kushina humming with delight. Willow narrowed her eyes at the woman, before following Iruka out of the apartment, not bothering to lock it behind her.

After all, who was stupid enough to actually try and rob the place? That, and the only thing of any value in there was her lamp, and numerous Icha Icha books. Those books, she thought, however, were worth fighting for. Shaking her head, she shifted that out of her mind – and consciously, she tuned out Kushina, because no matter how nice she thought the woman was, she was annoying.

Willow had thought she was like Naruto, (or Naruto took after her), but she was wrong. Well, not really wrong, but Naruto was half of Kushina. Meaning, the boy was a lot calmer than she was, and he was quieter for it too. Less likely just to say anything that sprung to his mind, which might have something do with her influence rather than anything else, but it still made the boy less annoying. Willow sighed loudly, and ignored Iruka's concerned gaze.

She seemed to be ignoring people more often lately, she mused darkly. Either ignoring them, giving them life altering news, or making them angry with her. Couldn't she get anything right? With a huff, again, and ignoring Kushina's pestering questions, they finally reached the Hokage's tower, and tugged towards the top.

If Willow could describe the Hokage's waiting room, she'd explain it in two words; Unorganized chaos. There were, as always numerous ninja milling around, all bickering about how they needed to see the Hokage first, and how they'd been waiting longer – and their mission was more important, or this person was bleeding out. And to her alarm, she could see a ninja who was bleeding, and clutching her arm in pain, though she just sat on a seat stoically, and waited her turn to see the Hokage.

The receptionist that sat by the door was no help in keeping the order down, because whilst she did look like she was doing work, she didn't do much in organizing who was going to see the Hokage next. Aside from those who had appointments, it was just a 'who can run in first' sort of thing. Iruka ignored all those waiting, and strode right up to the woman who glanced up at him and sighed. "Do you have an appointment?" she asked, voice bored, but like she already knew his answer and was mentally preparing herself for the speech she was about to give.

"No, I'm sorry," the man began, indeed sounding rather apologetic. "But I need to see the Hokage over Uzumaki Clan business."

She sat up, and Willow could feel the woman's eyes locked onto her. Heck, she could even feel the burning gaze of a few of the ninja behind her, who had heard what he'd said. She wished he hadn't said that, but she understood why he had when the woman nodded her head sharply, and eyed Willow curiously before saying; "you can go in right after he's finished with this appointment."

"But _I _booked my appointment two weeks ago!" one of the ninja from behind her protested.

"Are you more important than a whole Clan?" she snapped, not caring one bit for her own safety. Willow started to feel rather guilty again. "No! That's right. Thank you. You can go next. Kami."

It was obvious in the way she spoke, that this woman hated her job. She gestured to the seats, the closest one being next to the stoic-faced bleeding ninja, with a sharp look in her eyes. "Take a seat. It should only be a few minutes."

There was quite a bit of hesitation in her steps, but she final took a seat next to the injured ninja, and she bit her lip to keep her from looking over at her. "Hey, hey! Willow-chan would you look at this wound! It's so nasty! It's so cool!"

Willow tried as hard as she could to ignore the woman's bright words, but failed and turned her head, gaze falling on the injured skin. Realising quickly that staring at a wound was bad manners, her eyes flickered up to look at the woman in the eyes, before giving her an apologetic smile and turning back around, trying not to flush red at the look of utter disdain she'd gotten in return.

Man, being nice in a ninja village was _hard. _"I wonder what did that, tattebane. Hey, hey, could you ask?! It sounds like an epic story!"

She ignored Kushina because she knew that following the other woman's advice in this situation was not the best, and that this woman, dead or not, was absolutely insane. She was not asking the ninja who was sitting next to her, and glaring at her why there was blood gushing out of her arm. Honestly, she also didn't want to know how the other guy looked either.

As if on clockwork, Willow shivered, and the door to the Hokage's office swung open. And the woman behind the desk's gaze went right to her. Willow took her look to mean 'get in there right now before someone else tries to.' So she did exactly what she was meant to, and prodded Iruka in the arm and followed behind him.

Was she really more important than the guy who actually booked an appointment? Or the ninja who was bleeding out of her arm? No, she reasoned, she really didn't think she was. It was too late now, however to back down. "Oh man, he's gotten super old," Kushina gushed the second they walked through the door. The ghost sounded utterly delighted. "Old man Hokage," she snickered.

Willow rolled her eyes the second the Hokage looked up, and he raised his eyebrow at her blatant attitude. Oh damn it, he hadn't meant – the redhead gave the Hokage a weak smile and prayed to Merlin that he didn't take attitude too seriously. Damn Kushina. "Willow-san, Iruka-kun, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

Iruka nodded towards Willow briefly, not saying a word, but giving her these curious looks that left her rather embarrassed about being in the room. "Yes, well, I uh, I have a problem with uh, Naruto and-."

"Man, you aren't getting yourself anywhere," Kushina complained, sidestepping in front of her with a frown. Willow hadn't even realised she'd broken off what she was saying until the Hokage gave a little cough. "Tell him that you're trying to scheme to keep the Kuso Uzumaki here. I bet he's already trying to! We just need permission, tattebane!"

"That doesn't even make-," Willow cut herself off before she could fully respond to the ghost, flushing red at the way the other two in the room were looking at her. This had to be why they didn't recommend having the spirits with you at all times – you forget others can't see them and respond. "I mean, I kinda, maybe have an inside source to every historical, and Clan-related secrets of the Uzumaki?"

The Hokage raised his eyebrow, and gave her a look that she considered it for him to be taking it well. Iruka on the other hand didn't even blink at the information, indeed, he looked more confused that she was telling the Hokage this. "I might need uh," she looked over at Kushina to see her mouth the word 'permission', "Yes right. I need permission to possibly tell Karin and even Naruto more about the Clan?"

"Iruka, will you please give us a minute?" The Hokage asked softly, and the man bowed his head, threw a curious glance behind him, and walked out of the room. After the male ninja left, the Hokage intertwined his fingers together and settled his gaze on her, he paused briefly, like he was considering his words carefully. "Willow-san, would you care to explain to me how you might have acquired the information that you claim to have."

"I'm a magical genie?" she tried, with a raised eyebrow. The Hokage didn't look too impressed with her answer. "I asked a Uzumaki."

The Hokage said nothing for a good long few minutes, his eyes had locked onto her, analysing every inch of her body, like he couldn't quite decide what to make of her. "And how, may I ask, you manage to ask any Uzumaki when the only two left alive, are thirteen year old Genin, who know nothing about the Uzumaki?"

Willow sighed, and tried to ignore Kushina buzzing around shouting about how he needed to tell him about her. She was right, and she was the one who got her into this situation. If it was left up to her, she'd have just taught the damn kids without permission. Who needs permission, anyway? "I might have the ability to communicate with the diseased."

The Hokage's eyes widened, and he physically had to lean back. After the brief moment it had taken him to digest said information, his eyes narrowed at her. She knew that he didn't believe her, almost instantly. "I can prove it," she said hastily. "I can summon them. But only I can see them. It's a …genie thing. I mean, I could summon someone of your choice and ask them a question that I couldn't possibly know the answer to?"

That was a smart move, she congregated herself, before he could shoot her down he continued. "My old Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore," she continued, feeling like she was about to start rambling to the Hokage of a ninja village. "Used to always make sure that I would ask him a question, so I would know that it was him – in a society of people who can change what they look like, it was a really common practice – and the question I asked what was his favourite jam, which was strawberry and-."

She cut herself off before she truly began to ramble, and she smiled at the Hokage sheepishly. "You can summon anyone you so desire?"

Willow winced, and tried to stop her feet from shuffling nervously, only to fill miserably. "Kinda, I mean. If you sold your soul to the Shinigami for example, I can't summon you, but if you just died, I mean – it's all good."

She didn't understand why it didn't work, either, she felt almost like she was cheated out of something. After all, how she is the 'Mistress of Death' if she didn't have full control over it? Then again, she thought shuddering, she wasn't sure anyone could have full control over something like _death._ Like a light went off over his head, Willow realised that he knew, that she'd tried to summon Namikaze Minato, and failed. "I see," he paused softly. "I can assume the reason you were so disjointed with your speech earlier was because you were communicating with a spirit?"

Willow nodded eagerly, before it turned rather nervous. "Yes! Tell the Old Man Hokage about me! This is going so well! It was a fantastic idea, tattebene!"

"Uh, yeah – Uzumaki Kushina is like, right there," she gestured to her left, only to glance up at the red haired woman who was punching the air wildly. Forgetting momentarily, that the Hokage couldn't see the hyper woman, and instead, it looked like she was gesturing to thin air. "She's… quite like Naruto. Right down to her verbal tick. Though Naruto tends to favour dattebane over tattebanne."

Obviously she had said the right thing, because disbelief suddenly sprung over the Hokage's face like a wild cloud. And Kushina dropped to the floor in despair, crying about how she hadn't wanted her baby to develop such a habit. Willow glanced down at her, scratching her head, and wondering what she would have been like alive. Suddenly, she really, really wanted to know what Namikaze Minato was like.

Was he as hyper, and outspoken as his wife and son? Or did he counter them perfectly? She really, really wanted to know. "What exactly is Kushina-chan proposing to you?"

Willow was visibly startled, not expecting that sort of question to come up, and so soon too! "Uh, she's," Willow looked over at Kushina who quickly realised what was happening, and began slamming out phrases, that Willow just parroted. "Saying we should reinstate the Uzumaki as a Clan. The basic requirements of at least three members would be met, if we lied about me. I need to grow my-, hey! Dammit Kushina, I like short hair!"

"Pretending to be an Uzumaki won't work unless you grow your hair out. You need to be able to hide your foreign features with long lengths of hair!" she protested, and Willow rolled her eyes, and waved the woman off.

"Anyway, back to what Kushina was saying," Willow continued not even bothering to dignify the hair argument with a response. She was sure to have copious amounts of time to do that later, anyway. "If we brought the Clan back in, we could have just reason to offer Karin-chan a place here and Kuso won't want to fight a power like Konoha over a genin. By doing that too, Willow – I mean me, will be the Clan Head. I don't want to be a Clan head, why do I have to be a Clan head?" she broke off again, and ignored the way the Hokage was sighing.

"You're the oldest," she retorted, "and even I you aren't a real Uzumaki you can just pass it off to Naruto when he becomes a Jonin."

"Oh okay, then I pass it over to Naruto when he becomes Jonin," she said, like this was one great big conspiracy, which it was. "Right. Clan Head. Become one of those, and I can successful block the council from trying to force Karin-chan and Naruto-chan into any sort of marriages, and block any ill-intent towards Naruto – making your job easier. I don't understand that last bit, actually," she tried, but the look the Hokage gave her, she shut her mouth and continued anyway. "Never mind. And then the country looks stronger because they've welcomed the Uzumaki Clan, officially into Konoha."

"If we make you a Clan Head, Potter-san, you gain an awful lot of sway in Konoha's political climate, and a seat on the council," he said this like he was discussing the weather. She shot Kushina a betrayed look – she hadn't known that! "Forgive me if I'm worried about allowing a foreigner, a genie at that, this sort of power."

"I don't want – I don't care about politics, can't I just trust whatever you say and back you unconditionally?" The Hokage raised his brow and she glanced over at Kushina, nodding at what the girl was saying to her. "Oh okay, Kushina also says that I'm the only way to bring back the lost arts of the Uzuamaki and any risks with politics doesn't even compare with the knowledge that I can gain."

The Hokage leaned back in his chair again, and groaned softly. For an instant, she couldn't see a great amazing ninja, and she saw a tired old man who was just about hearing his last crazy thing before he declared he couldn't handle any more crazy things. "I will take these words into consideration, and you will have your answer by the end of this week. Be prepared, Willow-san. This would mean taking up the last name Uzumaki permanently. Agreeing to stay in Konoha for the foreseeable future. Swearing yourself to Konoha. And taking on the pressures of head of a very valuable, and nearly extinct family."

"I can take it," she said, shrugging. Not really thinking too much on what he was saying. Something she was sure to regret later. "After all, what's this to Voldemort?"

"I don't know what that is," the Hokage said gravely. "But I can assure you, Willow-san, that Heading a Clan is much, much worse."

Kushina cackled somewhere in the background, and Willow for once, felt something akin to dread.

She didn't even stop to consider, she was all but lying to the Hokage about her wish to stay.

* * *

**Naruto POV**

* * *

After the first hour of warm-ups only, Naruto began to question if his Sensei was okay. After all, running laps on a lake, whilst dodging various weapons of different lengths was good and all, but not typical of Kakashi-sensei's style.

Then again, he was a sadistic prick. After that brief mess, Kakashi-sensei then bet it into his head that his Taijutsu – whilst better than it used to be, was still sucky. Naruto didn't much like it when his Sensei pointed out all the flaws in his stances. Which typically didn't matter much. An inch of the foot, or the strength of his shoulders – it didn't seem to matter to the blonde, but Sensei? Oh no!

They then, moved onto the new pair of Jutsu that Kakashi-sensei was teaching him. They were directly being taught in an effort to combat Gaara's sand defence. Water, Kakashi-sensei had said, would be the easiest to use. Of course, Naruto wasn't very good using water. He was only marginally better at water than he was with earth.

Using nature based Justu was hard. He didn't know how Sasuke made the fire Jutsu look so easy, but he did. Back to the point, Sensei had taught him a Jutsu that turned the area around him into a swamp. Something he could use to help draw water from for his other Jutsu, but drawing water to make the swamp was proving rather difficult for him in the first place.

In fact, today was the first time in the entire week he'd been trying to get it, into any semblance of water. His swamp was however, only a third of the size that Kakashi-sensei could make, and half the size that the silver haired man had wanted his to be.

Man, it was a hard Jutsu. It did make it better however, that Sensei was also teaching him the water Dragon technique on the side, and even though his Dragon couldn't even knock a bird down, it was still pretty cool. And Sensei was a pretty cool teacher.

But this is where he got worried, Kakashi-sensei had been rather pleased with the progress he'd made with the two Jutsu. Telling him it was hard to learn a new Jutsu, let alone two as quickly as he was, but today Sensei was just staring down at him, and for once, Naruto couldn't tell what sort of mood he was in.

He hadn't given Naruto his creepy eye smile all day, and he hadn't even pointed out when Naruto had grasped a new part of the Jutsu he was teaching him. He hadn't pulled out his Icha Icha while he mindlessly went over the hand signs again, and again, and Naruto was beginning to become very, very worried.

"Neh, Sensei, are you feeling okay?" Naruto finally had gained the courage to ask, stumbling away from his half-formed swap, and his disaster of a spinner in the water. Maybe he could ask Zabuza o Haku for some advice on water-release.

"I'm perfectly fine, thank you, Naruto," he replied automatically, but his voice sounded frustrated, and his eye didn't curl into a smile like it normally did. "You're putting too much chakra into the Jutsu again. That's why everything looks so deformed."

Naruto glanced down at the mush beneath his feet, before frowning, and trying to pinpoint when Sensei had started acting strangely. He had been all morning when he bodily dragged Naruto out of his apartment this morning. Naruto formed the hand signs again, and tried to reduce his chakra output.

"Ah, Kakashi-sensei, did you and nee-chan have a fight?" Naruto had heard that people got angry and moody after a fight. Naruto hadn't known his teacher and pseudo-sister knew each other that well, well. Well enough for Sensei to be annoyed about it, but that was in the past.

Kakashi-sensei didn't say anything, and Naruto scrambled to fix their friendship even if he still thought Sensei was a pervert that looked at his sister for too long. He wasn't mean, he cared for other, and he wanted nee-chan to have friends. So that then maybe, she would stay. "Don't blame nee-chan please!" he snapped his hands together, like he was going to bow, and he did indeed, bow his head. "She's having a really hard time lately because I keep asking questions about stuff, and she really misses her home and her friends and yeah, dattebayo!"

Kakashi-sensei froze, he was so stiff that Naruto almost thought he'd become a statue, and he looked down at the blonde for a good few moments. He unfroze quickly to give Naruto his signature eye-smile and put on a cheery tone. "No matter Naruto-kun, it's all in the past now! Let's get some of this super awesome training done, eh? One week to go after tomorrow!"

"Right," he said suddenly feeling quite a lot lighter, turning around, even though he felt that Sensei was forcing his cheer a little bit – but, nah. Sensei couldn't _fake _being happy. No, he was obviously happy because he'd intersected, which in turn, made Naruto one happy little camper.

Willow POV

After she left the Hokage's office, Iruka was nowhere to be seen. This obviously, made her very, very happy. It also gave her the perfect amount of time needed to do something other than sit on a beanbag, re-reading crappy novels, whilst having a ninja stare at her all day. Granted, Kushina was still there, but she was just content on following her around, and chatting insistently in her ear.

Willow wasn't even sure how to dispel her, actually. Did she just wish she was gone? Did she say good bye? Did she just close herself off to the woman – as if her thoughts were a catalyst, the redhead's voice was suddenly muted, and glancing over, she could see the woman disappear. Excellent, so she in the end, was actually by herself and the feeling of being alone actually made her rather giddy.

With a skip in her step, she tumbled down the street, her eyes open wide and gazing into all the stalls that dotted the streets of Konoha. It was about time she actually embraced the country around her, she thought. It was about time that she stopped wishing she was home, and accepting things as they were. Willow honestly didn't know if she was ever going to get home, and the longer she was here the less likely it became.

That, and with her attentions on the Hokage, hers and Kushina's Uzumaki scheme, it was best if she didn't stand out too much. With a frown, she mumbled the name Uzuamki Kushina under her breath, and ducked into a small little alleyway behind a row of houses.

The woman reappeared in a burst of light, throwing her arms up, her hair following her as she yelled, "ta da!"

Willow couldn't help the smile that worked its way into her face at the Uzuamki woman's antics. "I need your help, again."

"What do ya need this time, eh?" the woman said, with a bright grin on her face, and a noticeable bounce in her movements. Briefly, she wondered why Kushina was so hell-bent on helping her? Was it her Mistress of Death thing? The Naruto thing?

"We're going to turn me into a Uzuamki, clothes, I don't know, food choices – and then you're going to lecture me on history, unique talents – everything," Willow said, her eyes scanning around her, to make sure that no one accidently wandered through the ally and saw her talking to herself. "How would a typical Uzumaki woman dress?"

Kushina grinned before lunging forward and grabbing her hand. How did this work?! The woman could touch her, but nothing else? But she could lean on objects, but she could pick them up? Ghosts were strange. Either way, when the woman started dragging her down the street, Willow really did have to focus on making it look like she was going somewhere in a hurry – and not just being dragged forward by some invisible force.

Uzumaki Kushina was a force to be reckoned with, and damn, she never wanted to get in her way. Dead or not.

Willow Potter had a long few hours ahead of her.

* * *

**Naruto POV**

* * *

Naruto hadn't intended to go straight to the Hokage after training was finished, and when training fished hours after it was meant to, and Sensei for once, hadn't stuck around to take him home, saying something silly about leaving the iron on, he'd decided to take the chance. Kakashi-sensei always, for the last two weeks of their training, at least, had taken him home after training, and been sucked into staying for dinner.

Which he knew that his lazy, a cheap Sensei didn't mind as much as he made out to. Secretly, Naruto thought that maybe Sensei was avoiding Willow-chan, even though he'd said he wasn't angry with her. What had the fight been over, if the man was going to avoid the genie like that? "Hey old man," Naruto had greeted, despite his troubled thoughts, a large smile on his face after avoiding the mess of ninja waiting to see the Hokage.

Naruto loved the fact that no matter how many people were waiting, he always got to go in first, and it wasn't even because the grumpy lady liked him, no. She hated him like everyone else, but she took one look at him and sent him through, no matter what. He loved it. The Hokage glanced up from his paperwork with a smile. "Naruto-kun, what do I owe this pleasure?"

Naruto scratched the top of his head slowly, frowning a bit, before he paced himself back up to what he wanted to say. He was Uzumaki Naruto, dammit, and Uzumaki Naruto didn't get scared over talking to the Hokage. He shoved his hands in his pockets quickly, to stop fidgeting. The old man gave him this long serious stare, when he didn't say anything for a few moments.

He was tired after training, sue him. "I know who my parents are," he blurted out. "You always said they were good people, who died protecting me but I know who they are and…and why didn't you tell me?!"

The Hokage sighed, looking tired, leaning back and rubbing his eyes. "Willow-san," he stated dryly, not sounding angry, or questioning but matter-of-fact. "What has she told you about your parents?"

Naruto jutted his chin out, and glowered at the old man. Not really liking the way he was talking about nee-chan, like she'd done the wrong thing by telling him. Why did nobody ever tell him anything? They wouldn't tell him about the Kyubi, or his parents, and everything in his life is just this massively kept secret. "Uzumaki Kushina, and Namikaze Minato," he said stoutly, and to his surprise, the Hokage flinched. "Why is everything about me such a secret, dattebayo?"

The old man sighed again, a tired look crossing his features but Naruto wasn't about to just let the old man speak, not yet. It was Naruto's turn, and he was actually starting to feel quite angry. "Actually, you've kept everything from me. And you knew old man! You knew this entire time and you never did anything about it!" his voice was steadily growing louder, and he pointed at him accusingly. Before the old man could start to peak again, he continued, bitterly. "You know what I was! You knew I was alone! You knew everyone hated me and you never told me why! Why did you do that!?"

He was breathing heavily, but he wasn't finished he wasn't. He'd cried on Willow-nee today, but he hadn't gotten his anger over it out. How could he be angry at the only person in the entire world who didn't lie to him? She didn't care that he was young, she never lied to him. Always gave him the truth, no, he couldn't be angry at her – but he could be angry at the Hokage. She could be angry with him, and she was angry with him.

So angry. "Naruto-kun is was in your best interests-."

"Best interest that I don't know anything and went around believing that the entire village hating me was normal?" he snapped, not liking that the Hokage was even talking at this point. "Why did ya do this to me, old man?"

The Hokage crumbled back, dipping his head, Naruto's last sentence being his undoing. The blonde boy pressed forward, frowning, his eyes trying to contact with the old mans. "Why didn't you tell me who they are? I can keep a secret!"

"It wasn't you, Naruto," he said softly, but firmly, and Naruto let out a long breath that he hadn't been aware he was holding. "If this information leaked out to the public before you were strong enough to handle it, you'd have been killed for who your family are."

"What about the Kyubi?"

The Hokage said nothing. "We thought you'd be happier."

He froze, happy, huh? "Well I wasn't happy," Naruto said shortly, it was as if every memory he had growing up was coming back to haunt him. The jeers, the stares, the isolation. And he hadn't had a clue why that had happened to him, at the time, he really had just resigned himself into believing that he truly just was a freak.

Before the Hokage could form a response, Naruto was talking even more. This time, he was thinking back to mere month ago, when he went on that mission to Wave. "And I nearly killed Kakashi-sensei because I didn't know, because I couldn't handle it. He knew though, everyone knew."

The old man sighed, leaning back and rubbing the bridge of his nose. It sort of annoyed the young blonde boy that he wasn't really reacting the way he wanted him too. The Hokage was calm, composed and hadn't seemed at all phased by anything that Naruto was throwing at him. "That was a regrettable accident-."

"It could have been avoided," he snapped, cutting the Hokage off. A feat, that if done by anyone else, would've left them in copious amounts of hot water. Naruto's eyes were hard, and his fit balled at his side. "So much could have been avoided!"

The Hokage blinked, before he smiled, this small smile – that sent the boy to a tittering edge. "You've grown so much in such a short amount of time," he said, softly, a rather happy look crossing his features, which left the boy stumped. "Graduating has truly matured you, or perhaps, it's been something else," he hummed slightly, before sighing, and for once, the Uzumaki stayed silent, not sure how to respond. The Hokage nodded his head slowly. "I need you to do something for me, Naruto-kun, can you manage that?"

Naruto nodded his head slowly, confusion rapidly replacing his feelings of anger. "Tell Willow-san that she has the go ahead to tell you all about your family history," he said, leaving Naruto blinking boldly. Had Nee-chan been fighting the Hokage so he could know more? He hadn't even known, not really, that she was even on friendly enough terms with the Hokage for such a thing to occur.

And yet, she was fighting for him when he couldn't see…. Was this what it felt like to truly have a family? This warm feeling? Is that what this was? Naruto nodded his head dumbly, allowing the Hokage to continue. "The Clan business we discussed, will not however, take place till after the Chunin Exam, and let her know, that our plans are in place. You were right, Naruto," the Hokage was now nodding his head toward the boy. "You need to know, and you will know."

"Thanks old man," Naruto said, feeling rather shocked by how this ended, slowly, he began to withdraw himself from the room and barrel his way home to tell Willow-nee about what had happened.

A voice once again stopped him before he was fully out of the door. "I can see how now, you truly are ready to undertake the Chunin Exam, good luck Naruto. I have every faith you will succeed."

Naruto turned around slowly, beaming at the old man brightly. "Thanks old man!" he cheered before bolting out of the tower, only stopping to stick his tongue out at the mean lady by the door. With her glares dancing over the back of his head, he skipped past the door, and ran up the side of someone's house, and started running through the rooftops, pausing only when he reached his apartment, and jumped down, eager to reach home, and have dinner.

Barrelling through his front door, as it was unlocked, like always, he was already shouting about being hungry, only to have a deep chuckle heard from his position. He paused, frozen solid for a minute, not recognising the voice. It wasn't Zabuza, his voice was all scratchy, and it was too deep to be Haku's, or heck, even Sasuke's. So with trepidation, he moved into the next room, where the aroma of lightly seared chicken teased his nostrils, his eye however, weren't on the chicken – or the readhead waving around a metal spatula.

It was on the old guy with long white hair, who had been gazing up at Nee-chan with a gaze that was slightly too focused. What alarmed the boy even further was the little notebook he had resting on his leg, that he scribbled notes on. "Who are you?" Naruto asked pointedly, not bothering to be very nice about it.

"Back later than usual," Nee-chan teased instead, this old guy turning to look at him, his expression akin to someone seeing a ghost. "Was Kakashi torturing you again?"

"Yeah," was all he said, his eyes squinting at the old guy still. "Who are you?"

"Me?" the man gave him a bright bright smile, which only served to highlight the long tear-like red lines running down his face. "I'm the great, the legendary, Toad Sannin Jiraiya!"

Naruto blinked, not knowing what any of the stuff this guy was saying was. Nee-chan coughed loudly, and so violently, that it made him gaze at her with concern. Was she feeling okay? "Are you getting sick, Nee-chan?"

Willow-chan sighed, loudly, and pointedly, something that he couldn't quite comprehend. "I'm fine Naruto," she said, looking at the old man pointedly, which he ignored. "That's your godfather."

Naruto's jaw dropped, and the old man, his godfather of all people, glanced at Nee-chan unhappily. Like he hadn't wanted Naruto to know, because no one ever wanted him to know anything, and oh god, why on earth did no one ever tell him anything!? The old man - his Godfather, groaned loudly before slapping his little notebook shut, wrinkling his nose, and glaring at Willow-chan. "You couldn't have let me tell him?" the old man complained, rolling hi eyes.

"You wouldn't have told him at all," she snapped, her tone sharper than her happy countenance. She then glanced at Naruto with a warm smile, and winked at him, letting him know that everything was okay. That of course, was before a wave of confusion and slight regret flashed across her face, before she smiled again. Girls were strange, Naruto mused, not quite understanding what was going on. "This makes everything so much easier."

The old man, Jiraiya, just scoffed, but turned to Naruto again, with a wide grin and the understanding that he had a godfather, was yet to fully sink in. "So that it kid, I'm your godfather. What do ya think about that?"

Naruto looked the old man up and down for a few moments, realising just how old and uncool this guy looked. Why could he get a cool Godfather that turned up out of nowhere? Why did he get stuck with this dude? "Hey, you're really old, dattebayo… Can you even be my Godfather?"

"Hey kid, I'm not that old-."

"Hey hey," he cut the man off, not caring enough about the mindless arguments the old man was going to come up with. "Old Man, did you what, babysit my parents or somthin'."

He grimaced for a moment, before laughing. Naruto hadn't really said anything particularly funny, so he didn't really understand why the old man was laughing. He must be crazy too, Naruto mused. "Actually, something like that. I was your father's Jonin Sensei."

Naruto's jaw dropped. He couldn't wait to hear more! This old grandpa had stories! "Wow! Can you tell me about him Grandpa?!"

"I'm not old enough to be your grandfather you little brat!"

* * *

**Naruto POV**

-—

* * *

There were many things that Naruto didn't understand, and Willow-chan, despite being a person, was one of those things he'd never understand. She always made him clean in the mornings, before he went off for training, she always made him eat green stuff, after training. She's always listen to every silly word he had to say about his day.

Karin-chan, was different once again. Though Willow-chan seemed to think that Karin was perfectly normal for a little girl. The fact of the matter, however, was that Karin was his cousin, family, and younger than him, that made him realise, that he was basically the older brother in this situation. However, when it came to learning about their family history, he had to conclude, that neither could be the older sibling when neither knew a thing about the Uzumaki.

So after they had dinner each night since his discussion with the Hokage, Karin-chan would be in their crappy little apartment, allowing nee-chan to give them impromptu lectures about the lives of the Uzumaki, and what their talents were. Not that Naruto thought he'd have much ability in the sealing arts, he resolved to try. There was a brief moment, when he'd wondered how she'd figured it out, then he shrugged remembering that she was a magical genie so these things were to be expected.

Mornings blurred together, with such a full house every morning, it left Naruto speechless. Years ago, when he was smaller, he'd always dreamed of having friends, having a family that cared for him. He'd all but given up on that dream by the time he'd turned twelve. But now, glancing at the group crowded around the breakfast table and the stake of buttery smelling pancakes, he allowed himself to be amazed.

Karin-chan was smiling over at him, and asking for more sugar from Iruka-sensei, who seemed rather elaborated with Zabuza who was chortling some dirty jokes. Haku was sitting on the edge of the table, trying to sneak more off Zabuza's plate without him noticing. Willow-chan was buzzing around everyone, trying to make sure Haku got more than his fair share.

It was like they were all this big family. Karin was like his little sister, and Iruka-sensei was like his big brother. Zabuza would have to be his creepy uncle, and that would have to make Haku his cousin, he thought. That left Willow-chan as hi cool as hell, older sister. There was people missing from his puzzle though.

Sasuke, his best friend, for all purposes and Hinata-chan, who alo hazardly fit into the best friend category. Then Kakashi-sensei, he thought, he was missing too. Which was odd, he frowned, because Kakashi-sensei was normally with them for breakfast. But the sadistic prick that he was, was Naruto's sensei, and he always would be.

Naruto cared about his large extended (not to mention adopted) family, and his team. He never wanted to see it go away. He smiled lightly, his grin growing wider when he heard Zabuza grunt, "Copycat's behind the door. Haku let him in, will you?"

Haku bobbed his head down. Naruto frowned slightly, knowing that for Zabuza to have made that comment, that Sensei had to have been waiting behind the door for a while. He glanced over at nee-chan and wondered what they'd argued about two days ago.

Kakashi-sensei slipped into the apartment after Haku, nodding politely at the gathering of ninja in the apartment before glancing at Naruto and giving him a curt nod, and Naruto took this to mean that training was starting now. Slowly, he got up, only slightly mournful to not be able to eat any more, when it happened.

What it was, Naruto didn't know. But out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something shining, and a loud rattling noise coming from underneath the couch. Glancing around, he realised that the only one who noticed was WIllow-chan, who was frowning at the direction, and maybe Kakashi-sensei, but he was too impatient to leave to really care.

"Right," Willow-chan clapped her hands loudly until all the ninja in her living room stopped chatting, and glanced up at her. "Well, we're all getting nothing by being in here. I suggest we all leave the apartment, right now."

"Are you trying to get rid of us, Genie-chan?" Zabuza said sounding faux hurt, but the fact that his grin was wide, and showing off all his teeth, and they way amusement danced in his eyes. He hadn't taken her all that seriously.

"You? Yes. Go destroy your own apartment," she said hurriedly, a worried look spreading over her face. "You two, go train," she gestured to Kakashi. "You, uh," she paused on Karin. "Take Karin with you actually, she could stand to learn more about that training thing."

Karin frowned at the same time the other woman did, and at the same time Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Awfully eager to get rid of all of us, aren't you?" Zabuza commented idly. "Gives me the mind to stay – right – here."

The box, started to rattle, this sound however, caught the attention of the other ninja. "What's that?" Iruka-sensei asked, with his brow raised.

Shrugging his shoulder, Naruto got up to investigate the sounds of rattling and by the time Willow had noticed what he was doing, and before Willow could so much as shout; "Do not open that box!" the lid was off, and his expression was twisted with confusion.

Nothing else happened, which left him kinda disappointed, but he could see nee-chan's shoulder slump – and then a swirling mass of black smoke broke out of the box, sucking him right into it.

For a moment he was falling, hearing someone yell, but he couldn't see anything, just blackness. And this odd… Light on the other side?

_**Another A/N – I feel like I owe you guys a sort of apology for not updating as much as I want to. **__The reason why my update schedule has been so spotty and strange for the past 6 months of writing this. In April, I was kicked out of my dad's house. I'd never gotten along with my mother, so that was out, and I ended up sleeping on the couch of my brothers one-bedroomed apartment for a month. Now, I had been a university student, but with me not having anywhere to stay, I had to drop out of that course, mainly because I simply didn't have the money to go. I then couldn't exactly find work, or an apartment, and I still can't find the latter (I'm renting a room in someone else's house, currently), and I just (a month ago,) decided to use my job working in fast food to become a manager, and possibly use that experience to transition into a better industry. So, I know this is an excuse, and many of you will say I don't need one, but I haven't had the best of years – and I just wanted to share that with you._

_Things are getting better now, heck, I even just signed a loan out for a new car, so I feel that things might be looking up, and we may get more frequent updates soon. Thanks for everyone who has still read this, despite the rather luckstar updates. _


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